3 Reasons Content is King for your website

[BusFact]

If there is one thing that has me shaking my head in disbelief on forums, it's people who go "I have a product - contact me for details."

Why should I contact you for details?
I came here looking for details.
So just spit it out and I'll contact you if I want to buy!

As above I agree with you, but I think in most cases, many details are put on the site. However its difficult to cover all bases and so the terminology:

"Please contact us for further details" is nothing more than a polite way of saying I am looking forward to you giving me a call and I'm happy to field further questions you may have which I hadn't thought of to cover on my site.

What does irritate me is people who don't display pricing. Especially if its a new product that I haven't heard of before. Does it cost R1mil? In which case I'll not waste further time on it or is it something within my budget and worth investigating further.

[adrianh]

"The fold" is the bottom of your screen. Internet surfers are lazy. So adverts or information that appears as the page first appears are more easily read / seen then ones that you have to scroll down to see. Once you have to scroll down to read it, its "below the fold".

Ok, but where does this fit in to screen resolution, my "fold" is a long way down from a 800x600 screen

Do you have a "right fold" for websites that run off the side of a 800x600 screen?

[BusFact]

Ok, but where does this fit in to screen resolution, my "fold" is a long way down from a 800x600 screen

Do you have a "right fold" for websites that run off the side of a 800x600 screen?

Its not a specific term as obviously each screen and resolution is different.

It is just something to be considered when designing your web page - you need something to grab their attention near the top of the page and if you are advertising you want your ad near the top, not near the bottom.

There will be that grey area where an item will appear above the fold on some computers, but below it in others. This will affect ad prices and the number of people you can "grab" with their first view.

[adrianh]

It is just something to be considered when designing your web page - you need something to grab their attention near the top of the page and if you are advertising you want your ad near the top, not near the bottom.

I'll keep this in mind. I'm in the process of doing a major revamp (due to me breaking the OsCommerce site) on my website. My front page wastes a tremendous amount of space at the top due to logo size, and 'above the fold" due to my using fonts that are too large (the downside of using a 25" screen)

[Dave A]

In as plainspeak as possible - this is above the fold



Above the fold is the portion of page content visible without scrolling when the page opens.

Do you have a "right fold" for websites that run off the side of a 800x600 screen?

Yes, but 800 x 600 is so rarely used nowadays it's generally been considered safe to cater for 1024 x 768 and upwards for the past few years. Of course the increased browsing on the web via cellphones and other hand held gadgets is throwing a new curve - but the gap is so huge you can only really solve it by having a mobile skin that auto-detects and activates a page design that specifically caters for small screen browsing.

if you are advertising you want your ad near the top, not near the bottom.

For an advertiser who is paying per display this is probably more important than for an advertiser who pays per click.

Most CPM (cost per 1000 displays) advertisers will insist on above the fold placement, or at least pay a significant premium for it. However, I'd suggest it doesn't always work out as the most cost effective. I'd quietly suggest that ads at the bottom of pages - particularly immediately under the end of the content on a site such as TFSA - can be very effective. My experience is the CTR (click-through rate) on the bottom ads is very close to the top right hand ad placement.

My theory is people that get to the bottom of the page are more open to ad messages than they are at the top of the page. Not everyone gets there - true - but the improved impact on those who do goes some way to offset the position "disadvantage."

And then just for the record - top left close to the content is king

This also translates to content.

Start strong.
End strong.
Put your detail in the middle for those who are really interested..

[G Robin]

Very Good fully explanation...Content is King...Don't forget the Header,...It's the major atraction,if the content above the or below the fold ...will be read...

Have a super weekend

[solweb]

Good content is an important part of any Web Site. But you must remember we live in an "instant gratification" society. When surfing the net for information, people want it now! So, as pointed out above, they will glance through the first page of search results and choose the one that catches their eye. Once on the site, if it does not load quickly or they cannot see what the want, they will go elsewhere.

You have "Keep it Simple (Stupid)" or "Short and Sweet" Too much information and they get bored and go elsewhere, too little, and they will also go elsewhere.

[adrianh]

@Solweb - ah, finally somebody that understands where I am coming from. Content purely for the sake of raising your ranking only serves to irritate the customer.

It all goes back to the waffle factor, I see so many websites on a daily basis that a website really as to be special to catch my eye. Content written by some moron so as to add "fluff" to his website ony serves to turn me away from the site.

Anyway, I want customers to order from me regularly, I don't need customers to farm on my website all the time.

@solweb BTW: Your website makes poefie on a 25" screen. Some of the items on the screen are anchored to the right. They tend to shift over yet the menus stay behind. (Evrything to the right and bottom of the main menu does this)

[Peter Princeton]

What does (above the fold) and (below the fold mean)?

the expression comes from the days of paper newspapers...

when "above the fold" literally meant what the reader could see without having to unfold the paper...

like someone buying it on his way to work, and browsing the front page as he walked...

prime spot.

it is generally accepted that very few people react to anything "below the fold" on a webpaage

[Dave A]

it is generally accepted that very few people react to anything "below the fold" on a webpage

Careful now - you'll lead people astray.

I went scrambling to look for support on my earlier post, and look what I found:

You'll find that the most optimal ad position isn't always what you expect on certain pages.

For example, on pages where users are typically focused on reading an article, ads placed directly below the end of the editorial content tend to perform very well. It's almost as if users finish reading and ask themselves, "What can I do next?" Precisely targeted ads can answer that question for them.
extract from where should I place Google ads

Guess it's not just me that's noticed this.

The structure of content on the web is so diverse, I think the only golden rule is don't get trapped by stereotype thinking.