Is your Website Layout holding you back?

It’s often said that, in the online world, that ‘Content is King’. Those who hold to this opinion, believe that the most important aspect of any website is the amount and quality of the content uploaded onto it.

Well I’m sorry, but I disagree.

Source: stumbleupon.com via Kathryn on Pinterest

Think about your own searching habits for a minute. When you’re online, trying to find specific information, you click from link to link to link, checking out various websites to see if they meet your needs. In real terms, you visit half a dozen or so (at least!) websites – maybe even more than this, depending on the accuracy of your search terms in the first place. And because you’ve only given yourself a limited amount of time in which to find this information, every website you visit, (prior to finding the one that has the information you want, of course) you probably spend less than half a minute on. In fact, there’s every possibility that it’s a lot less. 20 seconds. 10 seconds. 5 – or maybe not even that long.

Now – think back to your own website. Does it capture your visitors’ attention? Remembering that you may only have 5 to 10 seconds (or less!) before they click away, is it the brilliant first impression for your business that you REALLY want it to be? Does the appearance of your website enhance your business image? Or hinder it?

I wrote recently about the importance of customer service. How image is everything – and reputations last longer than we’d like to admit. I wonder though, if sometimes we forget that our website also has a role to play in promoting our image. Your own website appearance – what image does it give about your business? Is it too cluttered? Too sparse? Is it covered with ads? Do you have clear About / Contact information, above the break (the point in the page where the visitor has to scroll down)? Or is your website expecting too much from your visitors – making them click around to a number of various places on your site, trying to find the information they need? Remember, the last thing you want to do is to frustrate a potential customer!

This post marks the first in a series ‘Designing a Successful Website Layout’. This series will show you how to optimize the appearance of your website, so that in those all-important seconds when a visitor discovers your site for the first time, they are impressed enough to stay; to read; to maybe click around a little bit. Or – even better – to return again.