You Don’t Get A Second Chance to Make a Good First (Web) Impression
You’ve probably heard the old saying “you don’t get a second chance to make a good first impression.” It holds true — if you want to make a good impression, you need to put forward your best foot. Chances are, you know this already. That’s why you do your hair and choose a snappy outfit when going for job interview. Although most people realize the importance of a positive first impression, many business owners fail to make an excellent first impression with their web site.
The truth is, the first time that a visitor views your web site, that visitor will decide whether to visit your web site again, whether to bookmark your web site, and even whether to recommend your web site to others. If you want to attract traffic and repeat users, you simply must start making a good impression online. Whether you are developing your site yourself or have hired a good web design company, you need to make sure that your website makes a great impression right away.
Of course, this is easier said than done. While you may know what it takes to make a good first impression in a job interview — a strong handshake, a power suit, and a pleasant demeanor — knowing how to make a great impression online is not always as simple. However, experts suggest that to make the best possible impression on the most number of viewers, you should:
1) Have great content. Viewers are visiting your web site not for your beautiful background colors and your fonts, but rather for the information and services you can provide online. If you are selling products online, viewers are interested in buying from you. If you offer service in person, viewers may be interested in visiting your web site to learn more about your company. You need to understand what viewers are looking for, and then you must develop snappy, interesting, and above all useful information for these viewers.
2) Keep it simple. Simplicity in web design is the gold standard. Busy, overwrought web sites with lots of animation, graphics, background noise, animation, sound, and every other possible design future look amateurish. Take a look at several web sites run by white-collar professionals and you will notice simplicity and clean, attractive colors as well as fast loading photographs. A professional, sleek web site should be your goal, too.
3) Keep it fast. Internet users are notoriously impatient. If your web site takes a long time to download correctly, viewers will simply click away to the competition, never to return. Make sure that any element that may be slowing down your web site download times — and this can include large files, pictures, or animation – is toned down or eliminated.
4) Keep it easy. A quick Google search can give you almost any information, statistics, or facts you need. Why should viewers come to your web site? One reason is that you make information interesting. Another is that you make it easy to find. Make sure that your web site has a navigational system that makes it easy for your viewers to find exactly what they want, when they want to. This will help ensure that readers come back for more.