Google eye tracking study shows the F-shaped path people take when looking at a web page.
Have you ever looked at a website, a landing page, or a sales page that looked so cluttered you didn’t know where to start reading?
How long did you spend trying to figure it out before you gave up and clicked away?
Regardless of whether you own a sporting lodge, an outfitting/guide service, a guest ranch or a bed and breakfast inn, marketing a specialty lodging business today requires having a website.
Your website has just 5 seconds to grab a visitor's attention
Unfortunately, in today's instant society, your site has just 5 seconds to grab visitors' attention and pull them into your message. To make sure your site accomplishes this, you need to create a reading “path” for visitors that feels so easy and natural they don’t even realize you’re intentionally leading them along.
Today’s article will discuss how to create this reading path by using a specific design hierarchy:
- The headline – The headline of each page (you are using headlines, right?) carries 80% of the responsibility for grabbing a visitor's interest and moving them on to the rest of the page, so not only do you want to spend a good deal of time coming up with a fantastic headline, you also want to spend enough time to design it for maximum impact. That means using big, bold letters (at least 3 times larger than the body copy), and bold colors (don’t put headlines in light colors—especially pastels—they’re too light for good readability). Break long headlines into easy-to-read chunks, and put plenty of white space around them to tell the reader “I’m important, read me first!” Sans serif typefaces (without the little "feet" on the letters) work great for headlines as they look clean and easy to read in large sizes.
- The deck– This is the subhead that comes right underneath the headline and helps readers to move from the headline into the body copy. The deck is generally used to explain the headline further and pull readers into the copy. Think of it as the neck that connects the headline to the body copy.The deck will be noticeably smaller than the headline, but quite a bit larger than the body copy. If you have a 36-point headline, and 12-point body copy, figure 22-24-point type for the deck. You can either use the same font you used for the headline, or use the font you’ll use in the body copy. Don’t use a third font as too many fonts will look confusing and amateurish.
- Subheads– These are used to break up the body copy and keep the page interesting. I like to use the same color in subheads that I used in the headline, as opposed to using black. Colored subheads draw attention and help hold the reader in the sales message. The headline, deck, and subheads together should give visitors enough information that they get the jist of the message and, in the case of a web sales page, can make a decision to buy if that’s all they read (which is what many people do). Folks who want more info will then go back and read the body copy.
- The body copy– This is the main message, and needs to be very readable. In print it's best to use a serif typeface (such as Times Roman or Georgia), because it's easier to read than sans serif (Arial or Verdana). But on the Web just the opposite is true. In either case, make sure the font is large enough for easy reading (11 or 12 points in most cases, and 13 or 14 points for older readers). In any case, don’t go below 10 points as that’s too small and most people won't bother trying to decipher tiny type.
- Other attentiongrabbers– Place sidebars, bursts, pull-quotes and other attention grabbers throughout your lodge or inn marketing piece to pull readers’ eyes to important information. These give readers a little surprise and hold interest much better than pages of text with a few subheads sprinkled here and there. Better yet, add a video that explains the message in a different format. This allows you to capture the attention of both visual and auditory learners, and video is proven to hold people on a page 2-3 times longer than they'd normally stay. And the longer you can hold them there, the better your chances of converting them to clients.
- Tell them where to go - At the bottom of your page text, tell your visitors the next step you want them to take. That step may be to call you for more information, click to make a reservation, or click to another page pulling them further into your site. It just depends on what you want to accomplish with the page.
A visual path leads people to the sale faster
This design hierarchy should be used, not only in your website, but in every marketing piece you use, including brochures, fliers, posters, letters, post cards, etc. When you provide a visual pathway for your visitors, regardless of which lodge or inn marketing piece they're reading at the moment, it's much easier to move them closer to doing business with you.
If you found this article helpful, would you mind passing it on to your friends with the share button I've provided?
See, I've just given you the next step to take. 
