Your Website's First Impression is Everything
by Ambrose Lee
|
| |
Your Website's First Impression is Everything
The first impression of your website is like love at first sight. You could argue from here to Mars on the issue, but the fact is that appearance counts more than people give it credit for.
Your website could be up for months and yet sales figures may not have skyrocketed as you would expect. Some blame it on poor advertisement, others on lacklustre marketing.
Chances are that the poor sales performance is due to your website itself. To identify any issue that your website might have, you will have to dissect the website objectively. For one, you have to analyze your website NOT from a designer's point of view, but rather from a prospective customer's.
A statistical tracking software will enable close examination of site visitors' web surfing temperaments. This software provides information on the effectiveness of your advertisement campaign and the number of hits generated by your advertisements.
When your advertisements are generating lots of hits and sales are pouring in, you know you have hit the jackpot. |
Ambrose Lee
 He manages project development and also supports the overall sales execution and deal negotiation.
He devotes most of his time working with clients in achieving their business objectives by leveraging the power of web marketing / presence. |
|
On the other hand, if hits are high with relatively low buying rate and short visiting time length, chances are that your website is loading too slowly for your visitors.
Most websites suffering from the snail-paced loading time are caused by excessive graphics and huge picture files. Although flashy elements are attractive, they should be kept down to an optimal number for quick loading. Generally, you would need to keep your graphics to less than 12kb and limit them to less than five.
The main focus of your website should be the quality and the delivery of the contents. Besides having a fast loading time, content focused sites are good candidates for higher search engine placements,, which in turn will direct potential customers your way. Your content will keep your visitors interested and hence get them back to your website.
Visitors will generally return and perhaps even recommend to others if your website offers value to them, and is frequently updated with new information.
Visitors often look for not only an attractive website but also an interactive and dynamic site. And depending on the purpose and objective of your website, most business websites are built with professionalism in mind to project a reliable and formal appearance, rather than a colorful website designed by a fourth grader.
In short, do not lose focus on the objective and content of your website. Then design your website based on the best delivery system your visitors or potential customers would liked them to be. If you could mesmerize your visitors during their first impression, you are likely to have a whole lot of returning customers.
