Is Your Website Being Read? Why People Dont Read Your Web Page

As the world virtually shrinks into the window on your computer screen, the web site is the best and a must-have tool for any business. Not only can it reach a global audience, it will boost your local exposure exponentiallyat a minimal cost.

However, your business web site isnt, and shouldnt be, just an electronic version of your product/service brochure. It could also be another potential revenue-generating source.

Just like a printed brochure, your web site doesnt get read by your visitors from top to bottom. At least not initiallyand not until you get them interested in what you have to offer.

First Impression

As the saying goes,

You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

And nowhere is this truer than on the Web. Your prospects form an instant impression of you and your company the moment your home page displays onto their computer screens.

In a mouse click, your prospects determine who you are, how they feel about you, and decide if they want to do business with you. Is your web site creating the impression you want? Your business web site acts as a silent salesman for your business. Knowing this, wouldnt you want to dress it to WOW your customers?

Web Design vs Web Creation

Being able to draw doesnt make one an artist. Just as having written an essay doesnt make one a novelist. At least not without years of practice and training. Similarly, and with the widespread availability of professional software, you as a small business owner may choose to design-it-yourself (DIY). You may think you could create your own artwork, design a promotion flyer, build a web site.

However, to design something to visually communicate effectively and compellingly, you have to consider its clarity, font usage, readability.

Other things to consider are:

* Your business communications
* Branding and marketing mix

These are business communication problems to be addressed. You also need to consider its consistency, identity, colour, professionalism, integration, innovation and emotional impression.

Usability

Have you ever gone for a drive with a map someone else made and it is poorly drawn or just wrong? We all hate the frustration of getting lost. A difficult or inefficient navigation would break your web site as quickly and easily as it was created (by yourself). We evaluate the consistency, innovation, linkage, usability and presentation of the design.

We also evaluate the resolution requirements, complexity, consistency, usability to test the effectiveness of the web site layout.

How We Really Use the Web

In his book, Dont Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, web usability guru, Steve Krug, writes:

When were creating sites, we act as though people are going to pore over each page, reading our finely crafted text, figuring out how weve organized things, and weighing their options before deciding which link to click.

What they actually do most of the time (if were lucky) is glance at each new page, scan some of the text, and click on the first link that catches their interest or vaguely resembles the thing theyre looking for. There are usually large parts of the page that they dont even look at.

How we really use the web site

Krug adds that if one wants to design effective Web pages, there are three facts about real-world Web use to consider:

1) We dont read pages. We scan them.

Why? Because:

* Were usually in a hurry.
* We know we dont need to read everything.
* Were good at it.

2) We dont make optimal choices. We satisfice.

Why? Because:

* Were usually in a hurry.
* Theres not much of a penalty for guessing wrong.
* Weighing options may not improve our chances.
* Guessing is more fun.

3) We dont figure out how things work. We muddle through.

Why? Because:

* Its not important to us.
* If we find something that works, we stick to it.

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