First impressions are everything. That is why we spend so much time and effort designing website homepages. We want the first thing someone sees to be a positive and memorable experience. Unfortunately when the homepage gets all of the love and attention, the website’s interior pages may end up looking sort of blah. Unless you are doing a one page website, it really is important to leave some goodness for the interior pages.
Yes, the homepage is important, but think about what it is generally used for. Usually you will find several strategically placed calls to action that lead to interior pages for more information. Once people have seen your homepage and looked it over, the goal is that they will be coming back in the future to use the information on the interior pages. So it makes sense to make these pages interesting as well!
Ways to make your interior website pages more interesting
Background color – as seen above, breaking content up with a background color is easy and looks very clean.
Images – Adding images here and there is another simple way to add character to your pages. Be sure the image is relevant to the text. Just tossing images in with the text may make the page look better but if the images don’t relate to the text you will only confuse the viewer.
Font – Fonts can be a powerful tool if used properly. Adding text-shadows and adjusting the font weight on important text can help it stand out. There should never be a reason to have more than 2 font styles on a single webpage – one basic font style for the majority of the text and an accent or header font style if you want some added fun.
If you have access to a graphic designer, make use of their creative abilities and have them a design a graphic for a special portion of your content. Or simply find icons to draw the viewers attention and direct them as they scan through your page.
So here is the challenge.
Come up with some unique ways to present the interior pages of your website. No one wants to sit and read paragraph, after paragraph, after paragraph of plain old boring text. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying to get rid of the text. It’s important for the viewers to have access to as much information as they can about your product or services. And I am assuming you want people to read it. But think about when you first come to a webpage and you see text the whole way down… a bit intimidating am I right? When presented with an overwhelming amount of text, most people tend to skim down the page and move along unless something catches their eye. They are looking for something which breaks up the content and makes it stand out from the rest.
Just as your website has an information hierarchy, a single page may need to be broken down in the same regard depending on the amount of content you wish to display. What is most important for the viewer to see must be singled out in some form or another.
I know the interior pages may not be the most important task on your list of to-do’s, but if you want visitors to check out multiple pages on your website, you need to design interior pages with the user experience in mind.
If your website is getting a little old and visitors aren’t sticking around, mark your calendars for August 27th and join us as we discuss Why People Hate Your Website or see how your website stacks up:
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