How to Grab the Attention of Your Audience – Web Design Tips

We live in a society where time is money: people want to see quick results and are only really able to digest small simple snippets of information when they’re in a rush. So if you’re creating or redesigning your website, following even the simplest of web design tips can help you yield fantastic results.

You need to put yourself in your readers shoes when designing your website and writing your copy. Within the first few minutes of viewing your website your audience should be able to understand who you are, what you do and why they need you.

It’s been estimated that you only have seven seconds to grab your viewers’ attention. Therefore you need to make a good impression and fast.

We’ve suggested five tips that will grab your audiences attention and help you keep it:

1. Keep your page looking fresh:
   You don’t want to scare your viewers off before they’ve even had chance to look around so make sure your website is not text-heavy and cluttered with waffle. Your audience will appreciate the time you’ve saved them sifting through mountains of text and will be free to search the rest of your site at their leisure.
2. Make your page look attractive:
   An eye-catching, professional and engaging web design will make your audience stop what they’re doing and pay attention. Team this with professional and compelling copy and you’re on to a winner.
3. What the F:
   When faced with a large amount of text it is unlikely we are going to read all of it, however we might have a quick scan through to see if anything grabs us. Eye tracking visualisation studies have found viewers often read website content in an F-shaped pattern. A reader is likely to scan two horizontal lines followed by a vertical line when reading through your text.
4. Make it easy to navigate:
   Making your website resemble an online maze with an overload of options is only going to get your customers lost and confused. Viewers want to be able to find their way around your website quickly. If they have to spend time planning their route through they’re likely backtrack and find a more simple website.
5. Quick to load:
   If your website is taking a long time to load, don’t be surprised if readers are quick to click off. Keeping your pages up to speed and free from being clogged with data will benefit both you and your customers. We recommend you use Google’s PageSpeed which can monitor your landing speed to your website and make suggestions.

So how long did you spend reading this blog post? Can you honestly say you read every word or did you quickly skip over parts until you found something relevant to you?