Internet Marketing - Matt Bailey [121]
This is why it is critical to have images that fit the narrative of the content and the company. The same goes with taglines and headlines; they must immediately make sense within the context of the content and the company.
Using taglines that promote the benefit of the company or the product can aid the user in quickly accessing the content. GoToMyPC (Figure 11-17) has a very easy-to-spot purpose thanks to the tagline Access Your Mac or PC from Anywhere. Within seconds, both the name of the company and the tagline are able to communicate a clear benefit to the visitor. The visual acuity of this page is consistent with the message, the images, and the content.
Figure 11-17: GotoMyPC.com: the tagline states the function.
Consider Readers’ Visual Acuity
Visitors will freeze immediately when presented with too many options, especially if those options are redundant, are unclear, or have similar labels. Figure 11-18 a is a prime example of this type of over-presentation.
a
b
Figure 11-18: a) The old Monster Commerce over-conversion page; b) Network Solutions’ simpler rework of the ecommerce software page
In a very small amount of space, there are 10 calls to action on the Monster Commerce page. Some are clear to the purpose, such as “Click here” for tech support and live chat; however, the organization of this page renders it very unclear. There is very little color consistency, because there is liberal use of the orange, green, and purple colors, but they are not consistent in purpose or content. In addition, the calls to action are all different sizes, so there is not one that looks more important than the other.
To make matters even more complicated, there is no specific link that drives users to more information; instead, the information seems scattered: three variations of “Learn more...,” “Request Info,” two “Pricing/Signup” buttons, a test-drive, and a demo movie. This large-scale presentation of multiple options presents a confusing array of options and could easily be revised to the critical information that the visitor needs to move forward.
Network Solutions has since revised this content (while also eliminating the Monster Commerce brand). The newer version of this content is presented in a vastly simpler presentation (Figure 11-18b).
The new page limits the visitor’s choices to very clear, relevant topics. The information is presented in a contextual format, with article content presented as text blocks and calls to action as high-contrast graphics on the right side of the page. Rather than inundating the visitor with an information overload, a clearer path to information is presented.
Present a Clear Contrast
A sure way to help the visitor see your conversion point is to use contrast. Contrast doesn’t depend only upon color for a communication scheme but is a clear feature that draws the eyes to a specific area of the page. Human eyes are drawn to areas of high contrast, because they are easier to read. Those areas should contain your most critical information and invitation to action.
If you are using subtle contrast to communicate importance (shades of gray, black on blue, red on yellow, and so on), you are losing the attention of the visitor to other areas that have a higher contrast. Low-contrast areas provide a higher difficulty of reading and thus are typically scanned over or ignored by readers.
This is an area where many businesses fail to understand that there is a major difference between colors from print design to web design. Colors that work well in a glossy print piece may