Orient Your First-time Web Site Visitor

Imagine spinning someone around so profoundly and for so
long that when you finally tell them to open their eyes,
they ask "Where am I?" not knowing if they are even on the
same continent they started from. When someone comes to
your web site from a search engine or through a link from
another site, it's like that for them. They may have little
or no context within which to understand your home page - or
another page deep within your site that they've landed on.

By imagining and engineering your site for that profoundly
disoriented visitor, you can add subtle clues and explicit
messages to your site that orient the person arriving at
your site from who knows where. You can do this without
"dumbing down" your presentation in any way, turning
confused visitors into converted ones.

For instance, while judging sites for the Webby Awards, I've
sometimes found myself at a home page about a city that
appears justifiably proud of itself for all that it's
achieved, yet I haven't a clue what state or province or
even what country that city is located in. It's easier to
appreciate what you're reading if you know that Kamloops is
in British Columbia, Canada and not in Scotland or New
Zealand.

Likewise, when people are searching for a service provider
and you do what you do only in a specific geographical area,
say so right on your home page. For instance, if you
provide emergency on-site technical support throughout
Southern Vermont, say so. You'll have fewer potential
clients clicking away in confusion and have fewer
inappropriate phone or email inquiries to deal with.

Sometimes the missing orientation pertains to your
profession rather than geography. For instance, I was once
sent to look at a site on "Japanese candlestick trading" and
found myself completely mystified. After reading a few
paragraphs, I gathered that this had something to do with
investing in the stock market, but even after I'd read the
whole page I didn't know what it had to do with Japan or
with candlesticks. How much nicer to include a sentence
like this not far into the home page: "Since its origin in
14th century Japan, this method of stock trading according
to candlestick-shaped patterns of price shifts on a graph
has..."

Another time I evaluated a site for a firm that did
"information protection" and "intellectual asset
management." Even after reading the entire site, I wasn't
sure what kinds of information or intellectual assets the
firm protected and managed. I checked with the head of the
firm, and my top two guesses were wrong. In fact, the firm
helps companies protect trade secrets, confidential company
information and intellectual property from theft or
inadvertent exposure. Again, be specific and clear so that
you let first-time visitors understand whether you offer the
expertise or product line that they're looking for.

These three site components help you provide clues to first-
time visitors to your site: the page title - the text that
appears in the top left corner of the browser; the site's
name and tag line, which normally appear as unifying
elements on every page; and the wording or text that
appears on the home page or other page. Explicitly or
through the accumulation of strong clues, make sure that
someone coming to your site without any advance warning of
what you do will feel oriented within their first 20 or 30
seconds.

Marcia Yudkin <marcia@yudkin.com> is the author of Web Site
Marketing Makeover and 10 other books. A four-time Webby
Awards judge and internationally famous marketing
consultant, she critiques web sites and performs web site
makeovers for clients. Learn more about her detailed
critique sessions on five different kinds of web sites
at http://www.yudkin.com/websitequiz.htm .

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