Articles From Bob Regnerus - RJR Computing Solutions

You probably know real estate and immediately think of property and houses, right?

Perhaps, but there's some real estate you may not know too much about nor ever heard anyone talk about. It's real estate you find online and come across every time you visit a web site.

The real estate I am talking about is "screen real estate". My clients hopefully have heard this term used by me more than once (at least my Platinum members that received my complimentary website Audio/Video critique).

The concept of screen real estate is something good website designers know about and take into consideration every time they design or re-design a web site. Screen real estate is simply the visible area of a website when you look at the computer screen.

As with real estate you're familiar with, in the online world there's valuable real estate too. It's the part of the home page of your website that you see when you first visit (before you scroll right or scroll down).

I want you to visit your website and view your most valuable screen real estate as you read this article. Just type in your website and sit back. Don't scroll right or scroll down. Just type it in and look at it.

*** WARNING - TECHNICAL MUMBO-JUMBO FOLLOWS ***

Before we analyze the site, I need to tell you about something your web designer didn't tell you about...screen size and resolution. I can guarantee that as many of you that are reading this article, there's probably 2 dozen different varieties of computers and monitors you all use to surf the Internet. There's 15 inch, 17 inch, 21 inch, and even bigger monitors. There are CRTs, Plasma Screens, LCDs, Flat Screens, Laptops, Mobile PDAs, and Cell Phones that display web pages these days. All of them have different size screens, and they all run a different screen resolution.

So what? Well, your web site will look different on each of these devices and screen sizes, so you need to consider this when designing your web site! Without getting too technical, I'll tell you that the most current data I have is that you should be targeting your site to a maximum resolution of 1024x768. These numbers refers to "pixels", but you probably don't care about that! So shoot an e-mail to your designer and ask him or her if your website is targeted to this resolution. If your web designer ignored this, chances are many of your visitors are having a hard time viewing your site on their screens. There's a lot that can be done to insure 99% of your visitors have a pleasant viewing experience on your website.

*** OKAY - TECHNO SPEAK IS OVER :) ***

If you remember anything today, remember this: Don't waste "above the fold" real estate. Your daily newspaper knows about this. When the newspaper lies in the bin or is displayed in the machine, you get a pretty fair tease of important items the editor feels you need to know about. A lot of it is "copy" or "images" that attempt to suck you in and compel you to buy the paper. Not a bit of space is wasted or disorganized.

You need to take the same approach with your website. Just like a newspaper trying to capture people walking by a newsstand or machine, you have about the same amount of time (7 seconds) to capture the attention of your website visitors.

Here's some of my golden rules for "above the fold" design

1) Never should your visitor have to scroll right to see content. Meaning, if you see a scroll bar on the bottom of your screen that allows you to see content hidden on the right hand side, you have broken Golden Rule #1.

2) Have a headline that is benefit rich, and for goodness sakes, don't make it your company name.

3) USP - Why are you different? You're different than your competitors, right? Mike Crow teaches Dream Team, Platinum, and Platinum Plus members a great deal about developing a USP. Make sure you present it above the fold.

4) Phone number, and a reason to call. Make sure you have both. Just a phone number is not enough, give them a reason to call....

5) ...which means you must Make An Offer. Any offer. Any reason for the visitor to wake from their slumber and call you. Give them something for free just for calling.

6) But not everyone will call, so you better have another way for them to contact you. Mike and I teach our members to capture names and e-mails on their websites. Give them an offer they can't refuse in exchange for their name and e-mail address. That will give you several chances to follow up with them!

7) Other esthetic rules - No large white spaces (fill it with something benefit rich instead), no funky colors (be professional, not cute), no large list of associations and accreditations (not above the fold, put it at the bottom), and make conservative use of images (know the image's purpose and make sure it is properly sized to leave room for the important things I listed above).

I hope you already follow some of these rules. If you aren't, then get on the horn with your web designer and ask them about it. I bet it will be an interesting conversation!

"Do You Want A Boatload of Traffic To Your Website and Learn From An Expert How To Convert It Into New Clients?"

Bob Regnerus is an expert in generating and converting website visitors into new business. Bob has a solution just for Businesses who want more new clients! Find out more at http://www.TheLeadsKing.com or contact Bob at 1-877-349-2615