the Art of Zen

If you ask anyone who knows about web design or search engines, they will tell you “content is king.” Well I have to tell you, this statement is both true AND false. How you may ask, could this be true as well as false? Well since you asked so nicely, I’ll tell you. It’s false because too much information on the home page can kill your web sites success. A lot of relevant content can help with organic placement (which I will cover in another article), but can confuse the message you want the visitor to see. The key word here is… message. Let’s cover that in a minute.

To design an effective home page, you need to come to a decision as to what the goal of our web site will be. Is it to make a sale? Get someone to fill out a web form to request more information? If your product or service requires a high level of contact to explain and sell, you may want the goal of the site to generate a phone call.

Once you have decided on the goal for your site, you will need a core message to be effective.

Core Message
If you are selling a product, you don’t want to cloud the topic of your product by offering information about you (and how smart you are) with the same amount of content or using the same sized or larger graphic element. You don’t want competing messages. You need to stick to your goal, especially on the home page and even more so above-the-fold (above-the-fold means above the bottom edge of the browser at the point where you would have to scroll to see more). I think an example is required.

Let’s say your goal is to sell a widget. What is the core message? Let’s say your widget is a want and not a need. People are not going to search for your widget because they need to have it; they are most likely going to come across it through random searches for something else or through a targeted marketing campaign. So the core message has to get the visitor to believe that they need your widget. The message has to be simple, clear, and concise. Two or three lines, not four paragraphs.

Call-to-Action
Now you need to give them not one, not two, but a minimum of three ways to buy or get more information. These are called Calls-to-Action. These can be a phone number, a text link in a slightly larger font or different color, or a graphic element like a button. A call-to-action can be a link within the main navigation that simply says Learn More or a text link that say Features; and don’t be afraid of just putting it out there with a big BUY NOW button. Sometimes the direct approach of asking for the sale is what’s needed. But all calls-to-action, regardless of the type need to support the core message.

Credibility
You have the core message that will turn your widget from a want into a need, and you have provided several avenues to either get more information or make a purchase. What do you have that can assist the message in establishing a value? If you are new in the industry, this is a hard one to nail down, but if your widget is not a one-of-a-kind you can feed off of others successes through articles or reviews of other widgets (trusting they are good reviews). On the other hand, if you have been in this a while, testimonials, customer quotes, blog entries (from other people of course), articles, reviews and even awards about your widget can build credibility and increase the power of your message.

Confidence
Now if you remember, I said making your personal or company information as important as your widget information can muddy your core message; confuse your viewer. Well that doesn’t mean that you remove it completely, just down-grade the importance a bit. An idea would be to put the links to company information below the core messaging; almost as if it were an after thought that you added information about your company.

OK, let’s recap by remembering that we are talking about the home page and about the area above-the-fold. We have covered the five key elements that are needed to provide the best chance of success.

1. Set a Goal – you need a specific goal that is not muddied by content that doesn’t help achieve the goal.
2. Create a Core Message – Develop a block of copy (Creatively I might add) that presents a simple message that clearly defines what you want the viewer to understand, or turn a want into a need when it comes to your product or service.
3. Calls-to-Action – Provide several different calls-to-action in multiple formats (graphic, text, navigation) providing the visitor with options that support the core message.
4. Credibility – Create credibility (value) through a quote from a satisfied customer, an article or review written by someone else about your product or service, or maybe an award (Widget of the Year).
5. Confidence – Establish confidence that you are a credible company and not fly-by-night. This can be a brief paragraph about your company below the fold, a set of text links to several short pages with company information on them, or maybe it could be as simple as a footer with a physical address, phone number, and email address.

These five things on the home page can make a web site extremely successful. But it may not happen the first time around. Nothing can replace a good writer, designer, and market analyst; the best team for gaining the best results. And as a little plug for the Art of Zen Studio, we can do all this for you. Give us a call for a free consultation.