This article was written by Michelle Weger.
“Make the logo bigger.”
It was a joke made by someone I was talking to about developing websites.
They claimed it was the best way to make a client happy because to a business, branding is the most important thing.
A bigger logo means more brand recognition, right?
Sure, but a big logo also takes up valuable real estate on your website and doesn’t do anything to help sell your product or service.
It’s a hard truth, but the fact is, customers don’t really care how big the logo is.
They don’t go to your website to look at the logo.
They go to purchase or find out more about your product or service.
When it comes to website development, there are some hard truths that I find myself sharing over and over again.
It takes half a blink for your website to make an impression.
Multiple studies have shown that you have approximately 50 milliseconds to make an impression on your website visitor.
Multiple studies have also shown that blinking takes anywhere from 100 to 400 milliseconds.
So really, I’m being generous when I say you have half a blink to make that impression, and that’s why the top of your website – where the hero image is – is so important.
The image that gets placed there should allow customers to instantly associate with your product or service. If it doesn’t, you’re wasting time… and you didn’t have a lot of it to begin with.
If your website is ugly, your customers won’t trust you.
Nearly half of consumers in this study said they judged whether a website was credible or not because of the design.
Those judgements weren’t based on what the site was offering.
They weren’t based on product cost, shipping times, or any of the other factors you may think are more important.
Think of it this way: if you needed medical advice, who would you instinctively trust more – the person in a clean, professional-looking doctor’s office or the somewhat scraggly looking guy standing on the corner who assures you that he’s totally a real doctor, man?
If your website looks like the guy standing on the corner, you’ve got a problem.
If your website isn’t optimized for mobile, you’re wasting your money.
I tell my clients that about half of their website traffic comes from mobile devices.
That’s a pretty conservative estimate, since as of 2017, 55% of internet traffic came from mobile devices.
In 2020, it was 68.1%.
Now, those numbers refer specifically to the number of website visits. About half of the total amount of time spent on the internet is on desktop or laptop computers… but that measurement also includes working time. It’s expected that during the workday, people will spend more time working on a desktop or laptop computer.
That means a lot more of people’s recreational time is spent using mobile devices instead of desktop computers.
So depending on your industry, you may be getting even more mobile visitors.
Copy isn’t just about the words.
There is a ton of science behind copywriting.
From the visual layout of the content to where on the page the copy is placed, there is more that goes into copywriting than I can cover in a single blog.
What it comes down to is psychology.
Compelling the customer to buy from you using copy is different from when you have a conversation with someone in person. The copy on your website should appeal to customers’ emotions and show how your business is the one that can solve the problem you understand they have.
“That sounds easy enough,” you say. “No one knows my product better than me, so I can easily write that copy.”
And if you can, great!
Just keep in mind that you have 5.59 seconds to get your message across, since that’s the average amount of time users will spend looking at your written content unless you can give them a reason to keep reading.
But even if you manage to write wonderfully compelling copy, it’s useless if no one can find it.
Your copy needs to appeal to humans and to search engines. Yes, SEO is about more than just your copy, but copywriting has a lot to do with it, especially when it comes to keywords.
So when it comes down to it, your copywriter needs to:
- Have an understanding of psychology
- Be able to be catchy and concise
- Understand SEO trends and best practices
- Have strong sales skills that can be translated into writing
- Be able to picture what the words will look like visually on a page
…oh, and they also need to be able to write well, since 74% of people judge a business’ credibility based on the grammar and spelling on their website.
Good website development means sharing these hard truths.
If you want a website with the world’s biggest logo, I can’t stop you.
I can – and will – tell you why it’s not a good idea.
I want your business to succeed. I want your website to represent your brand, be user friendly, and meet the needs of your business.
So while it might be a hard truth to hear that your customers don’t want to see your logo in all its full-screen glory, my team and I will say it to you.
