Comments on: Sell your website above the fold. http://www.biggiantcrayon.com/post-sell-your-website-above-the-fold/ A Network of smaller Companies and Freelance Professionals. Fri, 08 Oct 2010 10:02:11 +0000 hourly 1 By: Joseph D. Shiller http://www.biggiantcrayon.com/post-sell-your-website-above-the-fold/comment-page-1/#comment-142 Joseph D. Shiller Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:24:37 +0000 http://www.biggiantcrayon.com/bgc/?p=469#comment-142 Does not really seem like brain surgery. Just make sure you have: Branding, Text (clear attractive Offer and call to action), Image(s) and Navigation (relevant links) all in a neat package. I have also been thinking of what is the optimum screen width is? I think the days of the 600 pixel wide sales letter might be fading away. We can fit a lot more above the fold with the wide pages and with the new monitors, you can really stretch out. I do however dislike scrolling left to right, my wrist hurts enough as it is. Does not really seem like brain surgery. Just make sure you have: Branding, Text (clear attractive Offer and call to action), Image(s) and Navigation (relevant links) all in a neat package.
I have also been thinking of what is the optimum screen width is? I think the days of the 600 pixel wide sales letter might be fading away. We can fit a lot more above the fold with the wide pages and with the new monitors, you can really stretch out. I do however dislike scrolling left to right, my wrist hurts enough as it is.

]]> By: Newsletter 101: Conquering Structure http://www.biggiantcrayon.com/post-sell-your-website-above-the-fold/comment-page-1/#comment-141 Newsletter 101: Conquering Structure Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:34:13 +0000 http://www.biggiantcrayon.com/bgc/?p=469#comment-141 [...] Biggiantcrayon.com’s tips on how web sites can sell themselves above the fold easily translate to email. See how they might work for you. [...] [...] Biggiantcrayon.com’s tips on how web sites can sell themselves above the fold easily translate to email. See how they might work for you. [...]

]]> By: Paprikaya http://www.biggiantcrayon.com/post-sell-your-website-above-the-fold/comment-page-1/#comment-139 Paprikaya Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:53:01 +0000 http://www.biggiantcrayon.com/bgc/?p=469#comment-139 The way I see it it all boils down to how most people read a website. <ul> <li> Studies confirms that in order to capture your audience you have to write the important information in the first 1 to 2 paragrapshs ( http://www.slate.com/id/2193552/ ).</li> <li> According to usability expert <a href="http://www.useit.com/jakob/" rel="nofollow">Jacob Nielsen</a> users of the internet also suffers from what he calls "Banner Blindness" ( http://www.useit.com/alertbox/banner-blindness.html ).</li> <li>Concise and short information will more often than not be read.</li> <li>People <strong>do</strong> know how to scroll, but whether or not they <strong>will</strong> scroll depends on them finding what they are looking for - right away.</li> <li>A good summary of users behaviour on websites can be found here: http://tr.im/HyQ0</li></ul> These points are all well documented, and we have to be aware of this as designers and developers of websites. Certain things stands to reason when you know what the studies show: <ul><li>It is important to give our users the important information when they first enter our sites, and to present it so they can get that information just by scanning the page. </li> <li>If the user doesen't find what she is looking for, she won't even bother to scroll most of the time. And if you force her to scroll to find the relevant information, she may very well be much less attentive than she would have been, if the that information is the first thing that meets her eye when she enters the page.</li> </ul> There is one important note about the above statements though: Jacob Nielsen and a lot of other usability experts are, for the most part, only concerned about the content of a website. The impact of a properly designed graphical interface seems to be of no relevance to the above mentioned studies. - So keep those studies in mind, they contain information that should not be ignored, but try to not "go fundamentalist" on the area - we are dealing with human behaviour and that is as I believe we all know never fully predictable. Here are some of the links mentioned above: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/ http://www.virtualhosting.com/blog/2007/scientific-web-design-23-actionable-lessons-from-eye-tracking-studies/ http://www.slate.com/id/2193552/ The way I see it it all boils down to how most people read a website.

  • Studies confirms that in order to capture your audience you have to write the important information in the first 1 to 2 paragrapshs ( http://www.slate.com/id/2193552/ ).
  • According to usability expert Jacob Nielsen users of the internet also suffers from what he calls “Banner Blindness” ( http://www.useit.com/alertbox/banner-blindness.html ).
  • Concise and short information will more often than not be read.
  • People do know how to scroll, but whether or not they will scroll depends on them finding what they are looking for – right away.
  • A good summary of users behaviour on websites can be found here: http://tr.im/HyQ0

These points are all well documented, and we have to be aware of this as designers and developers of websites.
Certain things stands to reason when you know what the studies show:

  • It is important to give our users the important information when they first enter our sites, and to present it so they can get that information just by scanning the page.
  • If the user doesen’t find what she is looking for, she won’t even bother to scroll most of the time. And if you force her to scroll to find the relevant information, she may very well be much less attentive than she would have been, if the that information is the first thing that meets her eye when she enters the page.

There is one important note about the above statements though: Jacob Nielsen and a lot of other usability experts are, for the most part, only concerned about the content of a website. The impact of a properly designed graphical interface seems to be of no relevance to the above mentioned studies.

- So keep those studies in mind, they contain information that should not be ignored, but try to not “go fundamentalist” on the area – we are dealing with human behaviour and that is as I believe we all know never fully predictable.

Here are some of the links mentioned above:
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/
http://www.virtualhosting.com/blog/2007/scientific-web-design-23-actionable-lessons-from-eye-tracking-studies/
http://www.slate.com/id/2193552/

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