Quoted in an article on “How to Make Your Web Site Sing” in the New York Times, Jakob Nielsen described the fickle nature of web visitors. According to studies conducted …
… by Mr. Nielsen’s company, the Nielsen Norman Group, an Internet design firm in Fremont, Calif., show that only 50 percent of Web visitors scroll down the screen to see what lies below the visible part on their PC monitor.
In addition, Nielsen maintains that you have 30 seconds to make an impression because that’s how long a visitor spends reviewing the typical home page.
In my view, they’ll give you that much time if you make a good first impression. You probably have less than 10 seconds to make that impression and another 20 or so to compel them to take action – other than hit the back button, that is!
My advice? If it’s essential content, keep it ‘above the fold’ and make sure to give your website visitors the best first impression you can. Let ‘em know where they are, what you do and what to do next with enough ‘why to do it’ thrown in to compel them to action.
