Staying Afloat

 
We live in an era of too much information (TMI) and in today’s world our attention span is about that of a goldfish.
 
Got your attention?
 
With website design, keeping it simple is key. People move on from a site because they are bored or frustrated by how difficult it is to navigate or how cluttered it is to look at. Their attention span is short because there are too many options. As a result, it’s difficult for a potential customer to stay focused on one single thing and get the most out of it… they quickly get bored and jump to another site. The addictive nature of the Internet and the long hours we spend on it can leave us with an attention span of about 9 to 5 seconds – goldfish have 9.
 
To keep customers from leaving your website, avoid the following:
 
1) Ignoring What Your Visitors Needs Are
Many websites, both e-commerce and lead generation sites, are guilty of doing a rotten job of anticipating the needs of their visitors and providing an experience that helps the visitor achieve their goals. It’s important to get inside the mind of your ideal customer. I call it “morphing”. At StraightFire, we play make believe (we’re good at this) and come to an understanding of the customer’s behaviors and the psychology behind their decision-making. Then we design accordingly. Empathy is key to effective web design.
 
2) Absence of a Clear Value Proposition
One of the goals of your website is to capture the attention of your potential customer, and encourage them to stay on your site long enough to consider your services and products. It’s important to show your value in a powerful and speedy way. We help you clearly define the demographics of your visitors and design your value proposition to appeal to that particular class. A strong value proposition is important because it quickly states who you are, what you do, and how you can help the viewer.
 
3) Difficult to Navigate
Have you ever been navigating through a site and gotten lost and couldn’t figure out how to get back to where you started? Unless someone really needs to be on your website, they will probably jump ship and leave as soon as they start experiencing any frustration. You don’t need every aspect of your business outlined and detailed on your site. That many pages and that much content will overwhelm your visitor and will hurt you more than help you. If your site is not e-commerce, all pages and content are designed to encourage someone to make a call, fill out a form, or take the next step.
 
4) Not Mobile Friendly
If a potential customer locates your website while using their cell phone and they can’t view it quickly, they will probably leave right away. The tolerance for retention is very low. When we first begin the design process, StraightFire considers how the site (content, design, imagery, functionality) will be laid out for mobile before we even get started.
 
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