The Psychology of Web Surfers

Here are some things you should know about web surfers:

• They are busy
• They are impatient
• They have short attention spans
• They are turned off by a lot of text
• Clutter on a webpage overwhelms them and is a turn off
• They will more often than not leave a website without clicking past the homepage

What can you do to make your website more inviting to the average web surfer?

General Tips

• Build an attractive website. Plain, cluttered and homemade sites are turn offs
• Provide useful content. A visitor should be able to learn within seconds the products or services you offer. If they don't they may go elsewhere.
• A majority of web surfers have a monitor resolution of 1024x768. Your website should be designed to fit this resolution
• If possible, your homepage should not scroll. Everything on your homepage should fit in the average web surfer's viewing area, approximately 550 pixels in height for a resolution of 1024x768
• Don't use frames

Homepage/Entry Page:

• Don't use Flash intro pages
• Always put text on your homepage, so visitors to your site will immediately know what products or services you offer
• Don't clutter your homepage with lots of text, images and links

Text:

• Be concise
• Write short paragraphs
• Make it easy to quickly scan your pages for relevant information
• Write in an informational, rather than promotional, style
• Use bold text and bulleted links
• Have lots of white space (empty space)
• Your most important and relevant information should be viewable without having to scroll

Navigation:

• Links should be easy to find (no drop down menus)
• Navigation menus should be basic and easy to use (avoid complex multi-level menus as much as possible)

Links:

• Provide a brief description under links to your own articles
• Provide a brief description under links to external sites
• External sites should open in a new window, to avoid sending people away from your site