December 7, 2016
Your home page is no longer a guaranteed landing page
Social sharing is becoming a primary source of traffic for many industries including fashion, entertainment and blogs. Article links may no longer refer to the homepage but rather a “Seasonal Holiday Guide” or to your latest new arrivals. With piece by piece content becoming increasingly important, we simply cannot make all content pages, the same anymore. Every page they land on becomes a first impression. We’re often restricted by the the resources we have and realistically it would be impossible to re-design every page of your website to create a compelling first impression.
First Impressions of Your Website
These are important moments for your users when they land on your article, newly released item or content. We need to provide them with enough information about the focus while delivering your voice, brand and authority. For example, a standard page for an e-commerce apparel store would include an image, quantity, simple care instructions and an add to cart feature. While this is sufficient to enable the user to checkout, are we creating a desire or providing enough information for the user to make an informed buyer’s decision? As a content marketer, designer or developer, we want the content to fill in the gaps that the user might have.
Ideas worth including:
- Professional look book inspiration
- Instagram suggestions for outfit pairing
- Shipping and return information
- Social Share capabilities
- Product Review
Again, the idea is not to include every piece of information on every page but rather to include key information, enough to create either a desire, to support a conversion or to strengthen brand recall.