Website home page vs. magazine cover: what works - what doesn’t
Many web designers started in print first and bring habits and expectations from the print world to their web design practice. That shortens the learning curve and allows well trained designers to incorporate proven design patterns into their web pages. But web and print pages are not the same, and some print practices can actually hurt your website.
One common practice is to borrow magazine cover ideas and build them into a website home page. As we will see, that has both pluses and minuses.
A home page is not like a magazine cover
Walk by the magazine rack in any supermarket of bookstore and you will see dozens or even hundreds of magazines. Each and every magazine publisher is trying to get you to buy the issue or at least pick up the magazine and browse through it. For that reason, the covers are bright and bold; titles are provocative or promise instant knowledge. They have to be to compete against all the other covers on the rack.
Way too many people try to follow the magazine model blindly when they design websites. They use splash pages, usually Flash animations that are mostly or entirely devoid of content. or They use large graphics that catch the eye. Such pages can be attractive, even stunning. Unfortunately they are generally counterproductive, that is they actually drive visitors away from a site instead of enticing them to explore further.
These sites ignore a simple fact. A home page is not a magazine cover. A magazine cover is designed to say “Pick me up.” By the time we have arrived at a home page we have already gone beyond that step. There is no need to attract attention. The visitor has already taken that step by clicking on your link, or entering it in the address field of her browser. Why waste her time with a needless step? Why compound that error by making her wait through a Flash download, that only presents her with a “Click here to enter,” button?
Sure, many web designers will try to sell you a Flash splash page. They’re time consuming to make and therefor profitable - for the designer that is, not you. And honestly they are fun for the designer to create. I love working if Flash. However, every web visitor study ever done shows us that for every extra step a web page puts a visitor through, for every few extra seconds a page takes to load, more and more people will click away from the site.
The plain truth is that filling home pages with useless large photos or animations will drive visitors away.
A home page is like a magazine cover
On the other hand, putting links to other pages on your site, and making those link titles interesting, is a great idea. Go back and browse the magazine rack and notice how many covers have teasers like:
- 10 secrets to a —-
- 7 tips for a —
- The Real Truth about —
- How to make a —
- 5 ways to please a —
- How to — in 4 easy steps
- What they never told you about —
- The truth about — revealed!
A bit over the top? Probably. Effective? Absolutely. People love tips and secrets and your home page is a great place to place enticing links.
Notice the difference in emphasis between the splash home page and the link filled one? The home page with information and links gives your visitor reason to explore further. The purely graphical home page places a barrier between your visitor and what she came to your site to find out. Which would you rather visit?
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