The Future of Website Design
Simple Strategy to Increase Website Conversion Rates
400%
November 2007
Most websites, maybe yours,
loose over 90 percent or more visitors within eight seconds
upon landing on your site after all that hard work you did
to get them there. Google AdWords just released this statement:
So, you've refined your keywords, optimized
your bids, and written AdWords text ads that pull in tons
of targeted clicks, but after looking at your Google Analytics
reports, you realize that your landing page has a bounce
rate of 91%.
Which means that 91% of the users coming to your
site are quickly glancing around and leaving, deciding
immediately that this site isn't for them.
Recent research suggests that users decide to stay
or leave your site in 8 seconds or less.
In this short time frame, visitors have little
time to read anything about the site. What do they look
for? Research on website effectiveness shows that people
want to know if they can trust the company behind the website
before they continue. They do this in an instant through
visual cues connoting company credibility.
How can small and medium
size businesses communicate trust and increase conversion
rates? Show there is a real company behind the website
and that the company is credible.
This is done most effectively with
a credibility-based logo design
sm representing the company prominently on the website,
usually in the upper left hand corner.
A company website home page
must be designed too with the same credibility traits as
in the company logo. This will also give consistency in
credibility traits between company logo and company home
page. For example, the company logo cannot have a contemporary
design and the home page a dated design.
The bottom line is that first
impressions of company credibility are key to trust building
and continued conversion rates. University supervised research
concluded that it is possible to increase conversion rates
by at least 400 percent with a credible logo and home page.
Non-credible company logos and home page design is what
causes most visitors to leave within the first eight seconds
according to university supervised research (1). For more
about how credibility-based logo and home page
design are created please visit www.powerlogos.com
and access Articles.
This is the future of company websites because first impressions are so very powerful in
the sites success.
About Dr. Bill Haig
Dr. Bill Haig lives in Honolulu Hawaii and is recognized
as the pioneer applying source credibility principles in
communication persuasion to increasing the effectiveness
company websites through credible company logos and website
design. Dr. Haig coined the term credibility-based logo
design in his book, The Power of Logos: How to
Create Effective Company Logos, NY: Wiley, 1997. His
2006 PhD Thesis continued this research to credibility-based
website design. To read more, please go to www.powerlogos.com
and access Articles.
(1) Dr. William L. Haig, 2006 PhD Thesis,
How and Why Credibility-Based Company Logos are Effective
in Marketing Communication in Persuading Customers to Take
Action: A Multiple Case Study Toward a Better Understanding
of Creativity in Branding, Australia: Southern Cross
University, Graduate College of Management.
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