In my humble opinion (IMHO), tl;dr is one of the cruelest Internet acronyms. It stands for "too long; didn't read". If you've ever written an article or message board post of any length, only to receive a response of tl;dr, you know how much a snark can burn.
| "The clock is running out. Your surfer has a whole world wide web from which to pick and choose. If your page doesn't convince them in under a minute, someone else's will." |
Here's the sad truth, attention spans are shorter than ever. According to a Nielson Net Ratings report this last March, the average surfer spends 56 seconds on a website before leaving. Fifty six seconds. That's how long you've got to hook your fish.
Granted, averages are averages. Some users will stay on your site longer, some will leave sooner. The Nielson ratings encompass an overall measurement. Your mileage may vary. When you open your own web statistics you may be pleased to discover that your site's average visit length is two minutes. Then again, if the average visit time is less than 56 seconds, you've got a problem.
Are your graphics too bloated? Are surfers leaving because your page takes the better part of a minute to load? Are they leaving early because you rarely update and your returning visitors are hungry for new content? If your surfers are leaving, where are they going? Are they hitting the back button or are they clicking on sponsor banners and text links? These are the answers you should determine when performing a thorough analysis of your traffic. The point of this article however, is that you have but a moment to sell to each visitor.
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How do you grab them by the balls a make them pay attention?
By making every element of your page as provocative as possible. Logo, layout, images and ad placement, all of it matters. You want an attractive logo but you want to make sure it loads as fast as lightning. You want your sponsor ads to pop. You want your sales copy to be sparse yet powerful. You want those images to whet the appetite. The seconds are ticking away and you've got to lure those smut fans quickly. Your page has to be clear in purpose no convoluted messages, no hard-to-find navigation, no wasted space. Think of your surfers like they're little kittens, jingle the keys, dangle the string, make the objects as shiny as can be.
Close your eyes. Imagine that you're not the webmaster. Imagine you're a horny, impatient surfer looking for that perfect page. Imagine that you're about to visit a porn site you've never seen before. Now, open your eyes and look at your page. Pretend that you don't know anything except that you want satisfaction. Look at the text. Does it say what needs to be said? Is the font large enough? What about the ads? Are they right there, in your eye line? How about the logo? Does it take up half the window and load like a snail or does it jump right open and tell you where you are? And the content, is it hard to locate or is it as obvious as daylight? Does the content fit in the with domain name? Do the ads look like ads or do they look like yummy extras? Be honest with yourself, does your site look like something you want to reach out and touch or is it a jumbled mess of confusion?
Fifty six seconds goes by faster than you think. You can create sites that are subtle, artistic and full of deeper meaning or you can sell porn. Even with blogs, you want to keep the text entries short and make sure to include model hotness with every post. With galleries you want the surfer to see the thumbs right away yet never neglect the ad placement.
The clock is running out. Your surfer has a whole world wide web from which to pick and choose. If your page doesn't convince them in under a minute, someone else's will.
You're not promoting high ideas here. You're pitching tents and collecting signups. Don't be the adult webmaster that builds tl;dr pages. Be the webmaster that presents a sticky, inescapable web that traps its prey immediately. Make every detail of your page scream:
"This is it! This is what you're looking for!"