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Dazzle
your Visitors with a Dynamic Home Page
By Kristie T
From the moment a visitor arrives, your front page conveys
a feeling to your visitor. From the look of your site, the
wording, and the colors you use, your home page projects a
message to your potential customer about who you are. First
impressions are lasting. It's very important for your site
to project an image of professionalism and invite the visitor
to want to know more by gaining the reader's attention, capturing
their interest, creating desire, and calling them to action.
Here are the key elements to creating a dynamic front
page:
=> Professional Graphics
=> Company Logo
=> Motto
=> Draw them in with leading questions
=> Show how your product meets those needs
=> Build trust with testimonials
=> Tease visitors with goodies
=> Follow with your guarantee
=> Call them to action
== PROFESSIONAL GRAPHICS ==
When people shop in a store, the music, the décor, and the
display create an inviting atmosphere for your business. Recreate
this experience on your web site with graphics, pictures and
visual imagery in your sales copy.
Web site graphics play a big role in projecting a professional
image to your visitor. Not only can graphics visually please
a visitor, but they can also provide a sense of security.
If your graphics are of shoddy do-it-yourself variety, customers
may question your business' integrity, be leery to buy your
products, or wonder if your order page is secure.
Perhaps you're ready to take your existing site to the next
level with a web site makeover. For minimal cost, professional
graphics can literally transform an ordinary site into something
truly exciting. Try to match the color scheme and graphics
of your site to your business culture. Are you casual and
friendly? Are you high tech? Are you corporate? Pick a logo
and color scheme that reflects this to your customer.
Other Graphic Tips:
QUICK LOADING - As a rule, your home page should be
under 80KB in size, and take no longer than 20 seconds to
download with a 56k modem.
CROSS BROWSER COMPATIBILITY - Test your site with
several different browsers and at various screen resolutions.
COMPLEMENT - DON'T DISTRACT - Your graphics should
not distract from the site's content. If you are using a colored
or tiled background or excessive animation it can makes it
hard for visitors to read your text.
== COMPANY LOGO ==
Your logo is a distinguishing mark for your company. A strong
logo will create a lasting image which clearly identifies
you, differentiate you from the competition, and conveys a
sense of professionalism and reliability. Place your logo
predominantly at the top of the home page so visitors can
immediately identify that they have arrive at your company
web site.
== MOTTO ==
Think of a motto or slogan as a headline for your web site.
This tells visitors WHO you are, HOW your product will benefit
them, and WHY you are the best. For example: Providing the
highest quality coffees for private label
== DRAW THEM IN WITH LEADING QUESTIONS==
Sales copy needs to GRAB your visitor's attention, create
an INTEREST, and call them to ACT. So how do you grab their
attention? Create questions related to benefits your customers
might realize from your product. Think about WHY someone would
want to buy your product and HOW it helps him or her. This
will hook them.
For example here are some leading questions:
-- Would you like to bring your business online?
-- Need to add some pizzazz to your existing web site?
-- Are you looking for reliable web hosting?
-- Want to drive traffic to your web site?
== SHOW HOW YOUR PRODUCT MEETS THOSE NEEDS ==
Follow the leading questions up by telling them how your business
will GIVE them those benefits. You've caught their interest;
this will reel them in.
See example below.
If you answered "YES!" to any of these questions and you're
serious about business on the net, call me at (847) 244-8450
to learn how KCD web development, hosting, and promotional
consulting services can help you achieve success!
== BUILD TRUST WITH TESTIMONIALS ==
Now tell them WHY they should buy. Sprinkling your sales copy
with testimonials will break up your sales copy and add interest.
There's nothing more powerful than the words of a satisfied
customer to build trust in you and your products.
Here's an example of a small testimonial used as a teaser
to the full testimonial page:
My home page says (http://www.kcustom.com) "#1 Rated Design
Firm by Brian Hogan of Adventures in Advertising, Click Here
to find out why" This is linked to my testimonial page.
= TEASE VISITORS WITH GOODIES =
Think of your home page as the cover of a book. You've got
to make it exciting enough to make them want to open the book
and read. Tell visitors a little about your company, newsletter,
and any articles, resources, tips, or free reports your site
has to offer. This will draw visitors DEEPER within your site.
== FOLLOW WITH YOUR GUARANTEE ==
Reduce the risk of purchase by offering a product guarantee.
This will do two things: it will show the customer that you
believe in your product, and it will build trust thus making
them more likely to purchase.
Here's an example of a guarantee:
Unconditional No-Questions-Asked Guarantee
You have my personal guarantee, that the Widget will do X,
Y, and Z for you, that we back your purchase with a no-hassle,
100% money-back guarantee.
== CALL THEM TO ACTION ==
It's time to close the deal and ASK for the order! What is
the next step you want the visitor to take? Should they call
for information? Do they click here to order? Place the link
to your secure order page in a VERY VISIBLE place. Remind
them that it's a SECURE order page. Time sensitive offers
(and if you order by midnight tonight, you'll receive a special
bonus) can entice visitors to act now.
Offer visitors your contact information. Include your phone
number, fax, address, and spell out your email address (make
your email link clickable). It is crucial to put your contact
information on the home page so people don 't have to hunt
for it.
Motivate visitors to take that next step by offering a free
consultation, a discount or piling on the bonuses. If you
don't have a bonus, create a joint venture! Find a company
whose services complement yours and agree to cross promote
each other. Then make a bonus swap! Not only will you gain
giveaways such as ebooks and free reports, but you'll also
get lots of exposure.
== OTHER QUICK TIPS ==
Here's some other web design tips to keep in mind:
=>Check your spelling and grammar. Let someone else
proof your site too! They'll catch things you've missed.
=>Keep navigation simple. In addition to your top
or side buttons, add a set of text links to the bottom of
the page.
=>Frequently test your links.
http://www.netmechanic.com
and http://websitegarage.netscape.com
offer this service for FREE!
=>Make your page easy to scan. Use headers to break
up your text into digestible chunks. This way if a visitor
scans you page, he can grasp a quick sense of what your site
is about. Similarly, using bullet points will lead the visitor's
eye down the page.
== SUMMARY ==
Take the time to ensure your web site incorporates quality
graphics, good sales copy, and a strong call to action. And
remember to periodically reevaluate your front page to see
if it still measures up. After all, you've just got one shot
to grab your visitors attention or else "CLICK". they're gone.
Article by Kristie Tamsevicius - Dubbed
as the "Marketing Maven & Brander Extraordinaire"
Kristie Tamsevicius turns entrepreneurs into the lavishly
paid in-demand experts in their field. Learn how branding
helps you to attract customers, build income, & gain visibility
while successfully promoting your business online with our
FREE report "Web Branding Secrets" by visiting www.brandingonthenet.com.
| NOTE: Feel free to “reprint”
this article online as long as it remains complete and
unaltered (including my “about the author”
section at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint
to kristietam@brandingonthenet.com. |
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