The internet is a great and powerful medium to expose your business and attract potential customers — the challenge is finding methods that work to hold their attention for longer than 5 seconds and to keep the viewer interested. Surfing the internet is no longer just a hobby, instead it has evolved as an important part of life for many individuals, companies and business owners. There are a great deal of people across the world who use the internet to search, communicate, promote and engage with others and for personal and business purposes. Social media plays a massive role in the online marketing and advertising strategies, (a topic I shall write about in the near future) however in this article, we will be covering tips of how to keep your viewer interested and loyal with your website or blog. Therefore it is important to have an attractive and user-friendly website that will help you keep your online audience interested.
When designing a website, one must consider the user, their needs and characteristics — ie. patience levels are low and attention spans are short on the internet these days. The functionality and speed at which your website reacts to the viewer’s commands will be a driving factor that decides how much time the user will stay browsing your site, or whether they leave abruptly. Next is the layout of the website, which plays an important role — the type and size of the font used should be carefully selected for legibility and readability purposes. If the font is too small and there is a great deal of copy on the page, chances are the viewer will not stay read all of your information. Colour and imagery also play a significant role in the creation and effectiveness of a website. Choice of colour helps keep the interest of the visitors for a longer period of time, however choose wisely. For instance, imagine a website that had a rainbow of clashing bright, harsh colours all together with copy and imagery — in this instance, the viewer would be distracted from the desired message, confused and will most likely lose interest fast. Great websites create an immediate impression and are engaging or interactive to the viewer — this interaction generates more interest, whether it be through an online gallery or video presentations…with today’s technology, the possibilities are endless.
Next important factor is the content of the website, this is crucial. Try to remember this simply saying ‘content is king’. The content should be clear, informative and helpful for the viewer. If the visitors of the website find the content useful, they will most likely gain something from viewing it — thus, they will return visit more often and perhaps talk about your site to others. It is very important to use well structured sentences — be clear, concise and to the point. There should be no grammatical mistakes in the content. The keyword density should also be given some thought and should be distributed properly. These keywords are what helps your website rank in the search engines, making it easier to be found by potential customers. For e‑commerce sites, a point to consider is to make sure the product description and price details are clearly stated and not difficult to find — you do not want your customer to go on a hunt for the information!
If you keep the above mentioned tips in your mind, then the chances of keeping your online audience interested will increase dramatically. This is important because if your online audience is interested, only then your website will be effective and successful, to in turn, generate more business.
