Clarity
It’s something we all seem to appreciate.
At least we appreciate it until we get to the front page of our web site. Then there are so many things we want to share with our visitors, tell to the world and shout from the mountain tops.
So we cram it all in.
A local realtor’s web site screams out with no fewer than 14 calls to action. It is so crammed with ideas that I have no idea where to click. I’d share the site with you but he’s a decent guy AND he sold me my first house when I moved to town.
Anyway, this site has everything. Everything but clarity. A few years ago we designed a real estate site for a large brokerage that faded away with the recession. We went for clarity – the assumption on the front page was that there were two kinds of folks that came to the site: buyers and sellers. So we set it up so that there were essentially two choices – a link for sellers and a link for buyers.
As we delved into the site further we made a critical assumption: the deeper I go into a site, the more willing I am to have to make more than one A or B choice. So at the next level we offered more choices but those choices were specific to whether you were a buyer or seller. So for the homeowner who was looking to downsize or upsize, depending on their needs, was offered the choice of finding out what their home was worth, learning about how that agency could help them, viewing testimonials from happy customers and more. Buyers on the other hand were offered a way to search for home geographically, a request form, calculators, and other resources specific to being a home buyer.
Is there clarity in your site? Can a visitor look at your site and pick out what you want them to do in a second or two? If not, you need to try again.
Throw away superfluous stuff. I recommend starting with a blank page and putting the one or two call(s) to action on the page. Then add other supporting elements IF necessary. If they aren’t necessary, don’t put them on your site at all.
We actually have four on our home page. Can you tell what they are? There is one for each of our four main services.
If you want help with clarity for your site, give EduCyber a call at 303 268-2245.