What are some of the things that you look for in a website?
Since I’m doing Website Reviews, I thought I would help you to edit and optimize some things on your website…
Let’s start with looking at your website “above the fold” for this blog post. I will be talking about different areas of your website in other blogs.
What does “Above the Fold” mean?
Above the fold means the first half a page you see on your browser. Back in the day, when they had newspapers as a main means of information, above the fold was the information that was above the first folding line.
Nowadays, we refer to above the fold as the information that you first see on the website without you having to scroll down.
Above The Fold
1. Does the website tell me directly what this is about?
This is the most important question that you have to answer yourself. Is the website telling me something important about this company? Is it easy to point out? It should take you a total of 3 seconds to figure out what the company is about.
Look at the images, main copy that is located above the fold and tell me if it makes sense for your business. If someone who knows nothing about your business sees the information for the first time, he or she needs to be able to point things out quickly about your company.
2. Call To Action
The Call to Action or CTA is the action that you want your users to take when they’re on your site. What is the #1 action that they need to take? Visit your shop? Schedule an appointment? Read information or a blog post?
You first have to be clear on the #1 action that makes sense for your business and for someone who is a complete stranger to your business.
Make sure that the CTA is clear and simple. Treat me as a 3 year old who needs clear and simple instructions.
- Don’t ask me to do 2 things (unless you’re branching your users). For example, if you ask me to call you or to fill out a form, I will get so confused. If you ask me to call, then that is a clear CTA, but stop right there. Don’t ask me to do much more…
- Be clear - don’t ask me to click on the button that will lead me to a form that will lead me to schedule an appointment. A clear CTA is something along the lines of - Click on the button below, Click to Continue to the Next Step. The button needs to read “NEXT STEP” in this case.
- The CTA needs to be the most important action you want them to take - like we mentioned above, focus on the most important action.
- The CTA needs to lead me somewhere - always test the buttons on your website and make sure they’re working properly. It happens too often when someone adds a CTA but then forgets to link it somewhere.
- The CTA needs to pop in some way. Use a different color to bring attention to it.
3. Using Images
The images above the fold need to compliment what the website is about. They’re important, but they are not as important as the INFORMATION that you are giving your users.
Because of that, don’t stress too much about it and if you need, use stock photos that are easy to find on pexels.com or pixabay.com or any other stock photo site.
- Images cannot take over the content, they’re there to complement what is there, so don’t make them the star of your content.
- Images need to be easy to understand, so don’t look for images that have crazy designs and you can’t even tell what the image is about
- Images need to be the right size, so don’t over exaggerate it.
4. Copy
The copy is the text that you use when it comes to your website. When we are focused above the fold, the copy needs to be clear, but also has to have headings.
For example, use headings to draw attention - it is what is going to grab in 2 seconds the user.
Then with smaller font, explain in more detail what this is about…
As always, keep sentences short and easy to read. Pretend you’re writing to a fourth grader. A fourth grade vocabulary is ideal for website copy.
There you have it! 4 key areas that are important for you to draw the attention of the user and to make sure that they start with the right foot forward when it comes to visiting your website.
If you noticed, we only focused on the “above the fold” part of the homepage. We will be visiting other important areas that you want to pay close attention to.
Click here for a Website Review where we cover so much more!