Quick.  When you visit a web site for the first time, where do you look first?

You look across the top of the page, right?  You’re checking to see if you’ll find what you came for.  You want to know: “Is this worth my time or not?”

That space you’re checking – let’s call that the header.  That quick review you give it to decide to stay or go?   Let’s call that the 3-second rule.

The 3-second rule is a simple test.

Whether you are aware of it or not, it’s a test every person gives to every web page they view.   It’s the most important test to pass if you want to engage your visitor.  If you have a business web site, it’s your job to pass this test for the right people – your target market.

Is it really 3 seconds?

It’s a figure of speech, describing the very short time you have to convince a visitor that it’s worth their time to dig into your site.

It’s not too far from the truth.

In its December 2009 NetReporter newsletter, media metrics giant Nielsen reports this average duration of a web page view:  less than 1 second.

Average visit length on a web page

Usability (user behavior) expert Jakob Nielsen finds that 79% of test users scan, rather than read any page they come across.  Only 20-25% of your text gets read. (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/percent-text-read.html).

So what do your visitors check in those first few seconds?

Eye tracking studies show an upper-case F-pattern to visitor’s scanning behavior.  And guess where eyes trace the top of the F?  Across your header.

So how can your header convince people to stay, in 3 seconds?

Your header must quickly inject an idea of the real benefit your user gains.  There are 3 ingredients that combine to do this:

• Your business name
• Your tag line
• A sign of human presence

Combine these ingredients so that they tell your reader

• you have what they want
• you’re easy to deal with
• you’re for real

How to craft a header that builds trust with your target market in a quick, believable way

Make design choices for your header with this sole purpose:  To inject a clear concept of the real benefits you offer, in a brief and obvious way.

If your business name says it all, make that the most visibly prominent thing in the header.

Examples of business names that self-proclaim the payoff to the target visitor:

• Amazon (a great big river of goods)
• Cars For a Grand (clearly: used cars $1000 or less)
• Fastpatch.com (custom embroidered patches, fast!)

Sometimes, your tag line will be the better choice as head messenger

If your business name invites many possible meanings, you will need a tag line that tells what’s in it for your visitor:

Examples of excellent tag lines that make benefits obvious in the user’s terms:

• “Films Worth Freezing For” (for the Anchorage International Film Festival)
• “Broadcast Yourself” (for YouTube)
• “A directory of wonderful things” (for BoingBoing)

If your tag line drives your benefits home better than your business name, go ahead and make your tag line the most prominent feature in your header

Why should you include a sign of human life in your header?

People don’t want to do business with websites.  People want to do business with people.

Visitors need evidence that you’re for real.

When you provide a clue, like actual contact information in your header, you make an obvious link to a person or people.

This convinces your visitors that you’re for real.  Make sure your website gives people someone to trust, and a path to a real person.  Contact information in some form is a must.

What counts as a “sign of human presence”

Convince your visitor that he or she can find a real person if needed.

• Offer your phone number, email address.  It doesn’t get more real than that.
• Offer a“Contact Us” link in your header. If you need more room for contact options, link to a page
• Offer “help”:  Even a mega-site like Amazon offers “help” in the header.
• Offer a “feedback” form.  Boing Boing’s menu is their header, and offers a way to suggest a link.  It’s their way of showing you that somebody’s home.

How can you tell if you’ve got it right?

Wonder if you’ve got a winning header?  Here’s a simple test of your impact.
Ask yourself these 3 questions.
1)  Is your tag line about the payoff to your customer, or about you?

2)  How many clicks does it take to see if there’s a person behind the business?   The right answer is 0
3)  Ask a 6th grader:  “What does this business do?”  If a passing 6th or 7th grader can’t answer and be in the right ballpark in less than a minute, your tag line, name combination isn’t working.  Try again.

Seth Godin even goes this far as to say, you only have 3 things to ask yourself when you build a web page http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/files/knockknock.pdf:
1)    Who’s here?
2)    What do you want them to do?
3)    How can you instantly persuade them to do #2?
My suggestion: you start persuading in your header.  Only when you can get your message across in a 3-second scan of your header, are you ready to write rest of the page.

Today’s superhero drawing is brought to you by http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=download&id=935633 by Mr. Basmt

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