Frank Schulte-Ladbeck

You have to consider every detail of your design and content to keep the visitors on your site.

I have been working on site architecture for two sites which had become a bit too spread out. As I cleaned up, I began to observe my navigational elements, and how could I clean up files. On top of that, I was dealing with quite a bit of spam, which lead me to look at legitimate comments. With all of these elements, I began to see my design in a new light. I also studied other sites, and their solutions to the questions I was considering.
    I also like to delve into my analytics to find ways to improve the site. I find ideas for content. I discover what is working, and where I am faiing. On one site, I had been improving visitor retention on site. The number of pages that were being viewed on average was increasing. Interaction appeared to be improving too. I noticed that there were still people leaving the site rather quickly. This could be for a number of reasons, such as the site being the wrong provider for the information needed. I began to look at my site carefully. I loaded the landing page into the browser, and then different pages and posts. I stared at how the pages loaded, and then I looked at each detail above the fold. This is what will be seen by these visistors which make them think about staying or lleaving the site. Much of this happens faster than you may realize; five seconds is fairly much the average. Looking at this part of the site, I began to ask questions to ensure that I was not loosing visitors who may find what they need on the site.
    Is the site purpose clear? Blogs can have names which may be misleading. From “Jared’s Blog” to “My Life in Rose” (both made-up),  we have creative to simple names which say nothing to what the purpose of the site may be. This can work for you if you effectively brand the name, so visitors may know in advance that Jared is the writer to go to when finding the latest tech news, and that if you love roses in the garden, you will want to read about one person’s adventures of growing and using roses. This takes work, so you may want to be clear from the start. If you want to use a title like Jared’s Blog, then add a subtitle which helps quickly define the site.
   Have I given a clear path for the different users of the site? Have you paid attention to people in line to buy movie tickets? There are certain people who know which film that they want, and their goal is to move through the line fast to purchase those tickets. Others are trying to decide between two or three films, and the start time may be the determining factor. Others have no idea what they are going to see, but they may have a set of concerns which will narrow the list. The box office has to serve all of these users well to keep the line moving.  Although you have one over arching purpose to your site, you have users coming to the site with different goals. Can the person who has a goal find it quickly to move through? Can the person who wants to explore find a way to do this? Moreover, this has to happen above the fold. However, if you cram everything into this real estate, have you confused the user? You may have to encourage them to scroll down to find their path, but the option to do so has to be stated or hinted at in the first view of the user.
    Does my language inspire the desired action? I am not speaking of your call to action statement (“go this page to get your free ebook”), but the content seen by the visitor when the page has loaded. I have used the passive voice or a vague reference when writing content, because I may like the sound of it or I feel that it represents my intentions accurately. This is not a good practice when you have a few seconds to convert a visitor to a reader or a customer. Every sentence above the fold has to sway the visitor that this is the site meeting your purpose, so you have to craft your message carefully.
    Does everything fall apart when the user scrolls down below the fold? Once you have them scrolling, does the remainder of the page encourage the visitor to continue on to explore or comment or whatever you need them to do? Here you have to find balance. Packing content into the space can confuse the user, but maybe you need that content. Planning the layout of images and words helps, and where to use bold and title tags, can be what the visitor needs to move through the site. Elelments in the sidebar can also influence the user path. If I list recent comments, a visitor may opt to comment themselves, or explore the post where the comment was left. Having a tag cloud does not encourage commenting, but does encourage exploration. If I use both, which one should  I place first in the sidebar? What do I want the visitor to do? Each element has to have a reason on the page, and that reason should meet a site goal. Consider each piece of real estate valuable, so do not waste it.
   Lastly, what is your landing page? On certain websites, I have a different template for pages and posts, because I know that the reason for the visit is different.  A post becomes a landing page even if you do not intend for it to be. Visitors do not move cleanly through our site as we desire. This forces me to meet different needs, but guide them to my ultimate goals. “Use my service” can be my intent, which is easy to do on the home page, but not the obvious message on a post. Still, I want to sneak that idea into the visitor’s mind.
    Look at your site. Take it apart piece by piece. Cut out what does not work; adjust what does to be better. Ask yourself the questions in this post to begin your journey.

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