Skip The Bells & Whistles
Hi everyone.
Today I want to talk to you about foregoing the bells and whistles on your site. When I review sites, I notice that people pick themes that have, what I call, a lot of "bells and whistles."
Here's what I mean. They have HUGE pictures with lots of colors, glitz and glamor. And their headline is either non-existent or completely makes no sense.
How Should Your Header Look?
Your header is the first thing people see when they arrive on your site. That makes it valuable real estate. When a visitor comes to your site, they want to immediately see the benefit, or how you're going to solve their problem.
They don't want to see glitz and glam. So what do you need to do?
Your Theme Should be Clean
Your theme should be clean and white. At the very least, it should not have too many colors going on. It should be very simple and unfettered so that the decorations don't take away from your site's benefit-filled headline.
Keep It Above The Fold
"Above the fold" means the area of your website before you use the scroll button.
If I have to scroll down to see what the benefit of your site is, your benefit is in the wrong place. When someone comes on your site, they should immediately know how you can help them - based on your headline.
Your Headline Should Convey Benefit
Your headline of your site should be the first thing your reader sees when they land on your site. And your headline should convey a promise/benefit to your reader.
It should let the reader know - how your site can solve their problem.
But they need to do it with 1 headline and a subheading.
So take my horse saddle site for instance...
When you land on my site, the headline reads: "Horse Saddle Comparison" and the subheading reads "A Review of New and Used Western Horse Saddles".
My headline is above the fold, and it immediately tells the reader what my site is about -and how it will help the visitor. It will help them by giving reviews of new and used Western saddles.
See?
My site is quite plain actually. And I want to keep it that way so that the visitor stays focused on my message - not the glitz.
Change Your Theme
Fortunately, it's very easy to change themes in Wordpress. If you have a theme where your header is taking up too much space, or you don't have the proper headline, or you have to scroll down to read the headline of your site, change your theme.
And then ask someone to help you come up with a headline and subheadline that conveys the benefit of your site.
I hope this was helpful. If it was, please leave your comment below!
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Hello, Shalisha
Thanks for these valuable advices.
To me, they all make sense because I'm learning it now.
I would add sometimes we can add a Call to action also on the header, so the visitor has the occasion to interact immediately if what he likes what he sees.
Calvin
No. You don't put a call to action in the headline of your website.
It's what thought also, however, many pros suggest you put a CTA on your header.
I guess it probably depends on the products or services you're selling.
The best way to know is to do a split testing I guess.