Designing an Effective & Persuasive Homepage

The attention span of an online visitor is less than 10 seconds. So, your homepage needs to impart all relevant information need in less than 10 seconds. If it doesn’t, then you have most probably lost the visitors attention and the registration/sale.

Think of your event website’s homepage as a window display. Only if the visitor likes what he see, will he bother to look further. Given these facts, how do you design a homepage that is attractive and an effective sales agent?

The simple answer is that you have to incorporate all the components required in developing a great website into your homepage  in a concise manner. This is simple to say but difficult to execute as most of us have a truckload of information that we want to cram into our homepages. The problem with trying to fit everything is that you end up with a jammed packed page that confuses and drives away visitors rather than encourage them to register immediately.

The first step in designing your website and your homepage is to gather together all the important players - IT dept., graphic designers, content writers, web developers, marketing people, sales people and of course the big cheese who will ultimately sign off on the website and the check to decide on the priority of your truckload information. By assign priority, you effectively regulate information that will not persuade or encourage further ‘look-see’ or registration to later pages.

Elements that will help you design a great and sales effective homepage for your event:

• Great Design: A great design attracts the attention of your target audience.

• Upfront Information: There are two reasons why you need to have a concise summary about your event and a bulleted (if possible) list of benefits of attending your event. The first, this provides visitors with everything they need to know about your event at a single glance. The second, by including keywords in your the concise event summary, you make it easier for search engines to locate your event website easily.

• Easy Navigation: The key to good navigation is simplicity. Make sure that all tabs clearly indicate where they lead. Offer cross navigation wherever possible. Display Instant Registration Buttons prominently and on every page of your website.

• Quick Loading Page: Visitors wait for no one. Don’t overload your homepages with heavy graphics that are not required. If your website pages don’t load quickly, they will move on. Make sure that your website opens on all browsers - Internet Explorer, Netscape, & Firefox.

By including these elements, you will make it easier for visitors to locate information. It will also allow you to direct traffic, for example, a register button on every page will ensure that whenever a visitor decides to become a delegate, he will not have to search the entire website to figure where to register. This not only encourages registrations but also prevents visitors from becoming frustrated and moving on. By keeping it simple, visitors will not only stick around but they will be inclined to register with you in the future.