Not long ago I was asked to review a company’s website with one minor caveat.
They only allowed me to see the website for a few seconds.
They knew that the average website visitor only spends a few seconds on a page before moving on, so they wanted to make sure that what people saw was memorable and a good representation of their brand.
Microsoft cited research a few years ago that the average person has an attention span of 8 seconds. That’s one second less than a goldfish’s attention span.
Never before have people had so many distractions.
Don’t forget that when someone visits your website, they aren’t looking at it through blinders. You are competing against countless notifications, TV/audio streaming, other tabs, not to mention real life.
Often you are also competing against yourself because of a mediocre website design.
What does this mean for your website? Can a first-time visitor see enough in 8 seconds to make them want to stay longer?
More importantly, do they see enough to want to visit you, send you an email, or pick up the phone and call you?
Find a friend or family member who only knows a little about what you do. Ask to peer over their shoulder or screen share with them on a video call.
Send them to your website and start counting while they look…
One, one thousand.
Two, one thousand.
Three, one thousand.
Four, one thousand.
Five, one thousand.
Six, one thousand.
Seven, one thousand.
Eight, one thousand.
Boom. Done. Walk away from the website.
Ask them to share what stood out to them. What did they understand about your organization? What do they think you do now?
Their answers will help you determine the effectiveness of your website. This will give you critical clues about what you should put on your homepage. Pay close attention to the content above the fold, which is what you can see without scrolling.
Want me to take a look? Use this link to schedule a call with me and I’ll be happy to help.
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