The Five Second Rule for Websites
When a new visitor lands on your website, you have very little time to convince them to stay. There are a lot of websites out there, many of them very similar to yours, probably more than a few that are better. If you want someone to spend time on your website, you need to convince them to stay.
According to various research studies, you have approximately five seconds to accomplish this. Yikes. That means your website has to be in top shape, all the time, and it needs to be able to impress immediately.
The first thing people will look at is whether or not your site is offering what they need. At the same time, they will be making a decision about the level of trust they can put into your site. If they’re looking for advice on web design, you need to prove that you or your company is qualified to provide that information.
To prove that your page has the information a visitor is looking for, make sure that your content is can be quickly scanned through. Use headlines to separate and identify content areas and bulletin points to highlight key information. Make sure your headlines are descriptive, and tell readers exactly what each section is about.
Design and layout also matters. Is the general layout of your site distracting, or do you let your content take the main focus? Color choices, navigation layout, and design all count towards making that great first impression.
Visitors will also look at the number of ads on your site. If you have too many ads throughout the page, your site will look less trustworthy. The ads can also distract from the content on your site. The fewer ads on your web page, the better.
To get a better idea of what visitors are looking at in the first five seconds, take some time to check out a few websites you’ve never visited before. What are the first things you notice? Chances are, the people visiting your site are looking at the same things.
Ask a couple people who are not currently familiar with your site to take a look at it and describe their initial reactions. Take these notes, and the notes from the new sites you looked at, and make any changes your site needs.
The better first impression your site gives, the more time people will spend on your website. The more time someone spends on your site, the more likely they are to come back, spend money on your products or services, sign up for your newsletter, or complete the goals you have for visitors on your website.
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