3 things your website must do in 3 seconds
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Three seconds. That’s all you have to make a positive impression when someone lands on your website.
Actually, you may well have much less time to do this. Research reported by the BBC indicates it could be closer to a 20th of a second. But let’s be generous and throw in a few extra seconds.
What do you need to do to get off to the right start so quickly?
Get that page loaded fast
If you have 3 seconds, and your page takes 10 seconds to load there’s a problem.
Think what you need to do to simplify your site to deliver information as quickly as possible.
Visually WOW them
Use great visuals to quickly grab their attention. Photography has the ability to share complex messages very quickly.
Invest in planning, shooting, and adding these images to your pages.
Get them involved for future followup
This may take longer than a couple seconds, but first-time website visitors are a big opportunity for you to connect for further followup.
On the average Web site, 75% or more of the site traffic consists of first-time visitors, and they’ll stay for less than one minute. With this in mind, have a way to turn first-time visitors into repeat guests.
- You accomplish this through involvement devices:
- This could be an e-mail newsletter.
- It could be a blog.
- It could be a Twitter account.
Once you’ve started a relationship, you can continue communication, giving you more opportunities to invite the people back to your Web site.
If you’re not engaging in this process, you’re wasting most of your Web site traffic
Speed is everything for communicating first impressions, so you need to share your message with clarity and simplicity.
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Great summary Josiah,
I hope you had fun in Florence
Cheers
A good thing to pay attention to in your web design. “Nice neat edges” for columns consistently reduce readership and comprehension. This has been true in all printed media for decades where it has been tested in reading and advertising performance research.
Great topic and very clearly presented …..it amazes me the large number hotel websites using very poor quality, outdated photos. Along with the over the top sites using very fancy graphics that take a minute or more to load….. I immediately move on from both types of websites.
This post reminds me that I’ve been meaning to ask… does anyone else get a “Safari can’t verify the identity of this site” messages when they load HMS? Sometimes I get a flash of our Host Monster’s “temporary site” screen, as well.
I’d love to know if this is only happening to me, and if not, make sure we’re walkin’ the walk on all fronts.
I seem to get an error loading message the whole day today
J, I think sometimes it might be better to guide them to the #1 thing you want your first time visitors to do – book a room – rather than waste their interest by directing them to a social media channel.
Social media should bring people to your website and not vice versa…what say ?
Just a thought !
Cheers
Mihir
I was aware of the page load speed but the other two things are new to me. Thanks for bringing them in notice. It it really gonna help many people. Also do you know the ways to correct them and bring them up to the mark?
Josiah, can you point toward good examples, not necessarily in hospitality? Or to some bad ones with “doctor” tips? that would be great to illustrate your point!
Regards.
Michael