Article: The
Circus Effect
By Julie Friedman Bacchini
Do you have a website – or are you running an online
circus? Answer these three important questions to find
out!
1. When a visitor comes to your site, where will they
look?
If your answer is “I don’t know,” or “They
could look anywhere!” then you very well may be running
a circus. A circus is characterized by different activities
happening everywhere … people hardly know where
to look under the spread of the big tent! Likewise, if
a visitor comes to your site and is confronted with a myriad
of text, call-outs, buttons, ads, and so on, they won’t
know where to look. But instead of being entertained, as
at a circus, they will simply be annoyed – and leave.
An effective website,
on the other hand, is one that guides the customer experience. For instance, when a customer
lands on the home page, they have to determine within 2
or 3 seconds if they are in the right spot. Does this website
have the information they are looking for? Or do they have
to go somewhere else? That is why the information on your
home page is crucial. It must clearly communicate to the
visitor: “Yes, you are in the right place. We have
what you want.”
From there, the visitor must be able to instantly recognize
where they need to go on the site to find the additional
information they want. Do they want a certain product?
You need to guide them there. Do they want free information?
You need to make it easy for them to find it. Do they want
to schedule an appointment? You have to make it straightforward
and convenient.
In short, at a circus, people let their gaze wander around
to find things that interest them. On a website, you need
to provide them with clear direction to get them where
they want to go.
2. Will a visitor recognize what is most important on
your site?
Remember the food vendors at a circus? “Fresh hot
pretzels!” “Hot dogs! Get your hot dogs!” “Cotton
candy here!” All shouted at full volume, non-stop.
Your ears hurt by the time you are there for an hour and
soon you can’t tell one vendor’s voice from
the next.
Even a clean, well-organized website can fall into this
particular trap: highlighting everything at once, at the
same visual “volume.” You’ve seen it
before: all down the side bars of the web page appear a
long line of buttons or graphics calling your attention
to special offers, customer service, press releases, online
applications, affiliations, etc. From that long line of
images, what draws your attention? With all the visual
input, the answer is simple: nothing. It’s too much
to take in at once.
The fact is, if you highlight everything on your website,
you highlight nothing. Consider carefully what is most
important for your visitors to know, or what they want
to know most frequently, and highlight at most three items.
Any more than that, and your visitors’ eyes will
glaze and they won’t see anything at all.
3. Will your visitor be annoyed by too many bells and
whistles?
Circuses are great – they’re filled with music,
lights, action, tastes, smells … everything you
could want to stimulate the senses. But after a few hours,
aren’t you ready to leave? It’s sensory overload!
Technology can create the same effect. Websites get caught
up with flash, video, movement, action, interaction, pop-ups – you
name it. For some businesses, a thousand “flashing
lights” may be appropriate. But for most businesses,
too many bells and whistles are irritating for your visitors.
And when they get irritated, they leave.
Why? Because for most businesses, people are coming to
their website to get information – not entertainment.
As such, they don’t want a circus – they want
a library. Somewhere they can browse for hours, find information
readily, process it effectively, and decide on the next
step to take. You don’t do that in a circus atmosphere.
You need order and quiet.
Does that mean that video, flash, and all the rest should
never be used when communicating solid information to web
visitors? Hardly! It is all a matter of degree and purpose.
Choose technology because it supports
your business and sales model – not because it is the latest “in” thing.
Three vital questions that boil down to one thing: do
you have a website, or are you running an online circus?
If the latter, some changes are in order – but the
good news is, your business will prosper when you make
them!
© 2009 Julie Friedman Bacchini
Article Source: http://www.neptunemoon.com
About the Author:
© 2009 Neptune Moon
|
