How to Build a Website That Grabs Your Readers
The first question I want to ask you is do you have the right message? what do I mean by message? Good design delivers the message you want your visitors to get. if the site objective is to sell a new ebook on how to save tax and your audience are taxpayers grappling with their tax returns, your message may be an important feature, your best benefit or a promise you want to make. for example, ‘save yourself a headache by calculating your tax return in just 5 minutes’
If you’ve researched your audience and discovered they are mostly, middle-age, family men who would rather spend time with their family than calculate their taxes, then your message could be about saving their valuable time to do more of the ‘fun’ stuff. okay, so this example is a bit of a ‘no-brainer’, but you get the message!
Other examples could be selling speedy conveyancing services for divorcing couples, or learn how to live a worry-free life aimed at anxiety sufferers. But whatever your message, stick to a single message. if your try to make too many points or present too many ideas you will confuse and perhaps even lose your readers.
Once you have your message you can select a mood or tone to support the message. think emotions you want to convey. angry, loud, brash, serene, friendly, hot, cool, jazzy. See if you can describe your tone in one or two words or adjectives. You might decide that your action thriller movie DVD site is wild and hot.
Another way to choose a tone is to play with the objective or mission statement you wrote for your site. You did write one didn’t you? See an earlier article about the reasons for creating a website. if your purpose is to teach people how to quit smoking, the word ‘quit’ could be used to set the tone. Quiting is hard, decisive and final. Perhaps you could features images of stubbed-out cigarettes, bold headlines and a victorious non-smoker.
Your message must be clear, must be easy to understand and should the most important benefit of your product or service. what did your survey tell you about your visitors and what they want from you? When you are clear about your message, every aspect of your site design get easier. and your website will hit the target for your visitors.
It’s a win-win for you and your website visitors.