My Five Second Rule - Digital Craft

A picture is worth a thousand words.” In web design, this is particularly the case, as first impressions are most important. Statistics show that your website typically has between one and five seconds to retain your website visitor.

This is hardly enough time to read and process any content. This means that you have to find additional methods to retain the visitor’s attention or lose them to another website. This is where the design and appearance of your website is relevant. It creates the first impression, captures the attention and engages your visitor to read and process your taglines, dive into your website and ultimately help to make purchasing decisions with confidence. Effective design works in harmony with your copy; it supports your messaging, strengthens it and delivers it in a visual, easy-to-process manner, allowing your customers to connect with your website on a deeper level.

Good design also reinforces your company’s brand and facilitates purchasing decisions. Design must work in tandem with your branding and content in order to emphasize your strengths and core business values, and ultimately direct users to take action. Effective web design is more than just an aesthetically pleasing website. Professional web design must factor in all design aspects, from the psychology of color and screen resolution to accessibility requirements and typography, in order to engage, excite and inspire. We focus on engagement and interaction and focus on presenting our clients story in an honest engaging style. Engagement is everything and the first step towards conversion. Traffic will not affect your bottom line in itself and conversions are everything.

Good content is what sets your website apart from the masses and delivers the right message into the hearts and minds of your customers. The success of your website is determined primarily by its content. Ultimately, content wins the wallets of your customers. All other components of your website (design, visuals, videos, etc.) provide a secondary support role. If you have effective taglines, great design will only enhance their effectiveness. Design itself does not sell. The content of your website should always begin with proper market research. First, you should determine your high value customers (HVC) and define personas for your website. Then you should determine how you will target them. Taglines and slogans that are customer-centric (i.e., focuses on the needs and wants of the customer) are essential to capturing the attention of your prospective customers. Your taglines must deliver a clear value proposition and include an effective call to action. The key to a successful website is having clear, relevant and keyword-rich content that delivers the right message with power and conviction.

Most importantly your business must be able to deliver on the promise of your website. The most successful websites tell a good story well and the secret to success is to tell your essential truth, honestly, clearly and simply. Five seconds, that’s it, make it count. Contact me to discover how you can put your best foot forward.