From now on, I’ll be trying something new. I’ll tell you what I am or will be doing, and explain why. I’ll start with the content on the home page.
The content on the home page will be:
I’m aiming the site at two main groups of people. The first group, and the group I’m targeting the home page at, are people who are looking for a web designer.
Typically, the clients who contact me directly work in small business, maybe 10-15 employees. They’re management and have the authority to ring me asking for a quote. They’ve decided, or have been told, to “do something about the website” or “find a web designer”. Let’s call one of these potential clients Jim.
However I honestly don’t expect much work to come via my website. Almost all of my work has come from word of mouth, so I expect these visitors to have been referred to my site, and the approach I’m taking to them is to make the terrain favourable ahead of a telephone call.
The home page may be the only page Jim sees on the site, so that page needs to give him enough information to make his decision to contact me. If he does visit another part of the site, it is most likely to be the portfolio.
You may notice that there’s no mention of “recent blog posts” in that list. Jim almost certainly doesn’t give a crap about the content of my blog but, although he’s probably heard enough about blogs to think it a good thing that I have one, space is at a premium here and a slot in the primary navigation is good enough.
Once this page loads, a visitor should be able to quickly tell what I’m called, what I do, and see some samples of my work. That’s what I need to show them.
I want to have a few words as a hook to read more of the site, some nice copy. Des calls these slogans “the five word slap”:
Its like getting a slap, you just can’t ignore it, and you’ll remember who did it to you.
The blurb will continue on from there, serving the same purpose as the slap but with roughly ten times the words, allowing me to go into a little more detail and to offer readers a route to another page describing what to expect if they decide to use me.
The sample will show two to four examples of my latest work. Images are required for any visual design work as, quite frankly, I want to show off. I’ll also list the client name for each project along with a highlight of my responsibilities on it. Each of these examples will link to another page for that project, which will provide more information and further images, quotes, etc where appropriate. There will also be a link to the main portfolio page.
These will be quotes from current and past clients who have (hopefully) something good to say about working with me. They are also something I still have to get, so if you’ve been a client of mine, expect a call soon!
Even if these quotes are glowing in the extreme, I don’t expect Jim to be convinced by any of them. Again, this is all about preparing the terrain for future conversations with him.
At the moment, I imagine the contact information and guide prices to be down “below the fold”, and beside each other. This is to filter out certain people I either don’t want to, or want to but unfortunately can’t, work with.
Putting the contact info below the fold requires visitors to scroll down to be able to read it. Although this will obviously filter out those that couldn’t be bothered to scroll down the page, I don’t imagine this is many people. The real reason is to filter out those that insist everything should be “above the fold”, and to ensure that, if this is a concern with a potential client, that it is brought up earlier in our discussions. “Above the fold” is, like “the three-click rule”, a quick rule that’s easy to misapply and misunderstand. If I can prompt this discussion with my client, I can put them at ease earlier, which is always better.
By placing the contact information and price information next to each other, I can make it more likely that those contacting me will have an idea of my price range. A lot of people believe a website should cost a few hundred euro. For any full website, I charge significantly more. I think I’m worth it, but sometimes a potential client may have a small budget available and I just can’t do what they’re asking for at that price range. By seeing my guide prices, they’ll have a fair idea if they can afford my services, and be able to decide if it’s worth their time to contact me.
The contact information will be limited to a phone number and email address, with a link to a contact page for more information. Jim probably doesn’t use Skype, and things like my business address and VAT number don’t matter at this point. And I have an irrational hatred for contact forms.
Out of the visitors I am aiming the site at, those like Jim are the most likely to type antidis.com into a browser. I expect most of the other visitors to arrive at different parts of my site. I’ll talk more about these visitors in a future post.
This is an Article. It was posted on November 19, 2007.
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