We’re in the process of refinancing our house. We purchased it 2 yrs ago, and we’ve improved every room in it. Some were just painted and freshened up while other rooms were totally rebuilt.
Just because you’ve put money into a room doesn’t mean you’ve added value to your house. When our bank asked to reappraise it, we wondered if we’d increased the value with our improvements. Kitchen and bathroom improvements are huge so we spent a little extra on them.
Our appraiser wasn’t optimistic.
“The downturn in the market has lowered values on almost every house I’ve appraised this year”, he muttered as I was leading him through our perfectly “staged” house. Nice. I then started holding out hope that we at least owned a house that was equal to the value of what we purchased it for.
Have you ever wondered what your website’s worth? That answer is a bit complicated and varies with the way you use your website. However, the value of “areas” in your website are easier to define.
What are the 3 most valuable areas on your website? Know them: they probably need your attention.
- The upper left corner. According to the latest eyetracking technology, almost everyone looks here to start their “journey” through your page. What should be there? It makes sense to have a small logo and a positioning statement. Something that establishes
• who you are (to reinforce “I got to the right page”) and
• what your core benefit to your target audience is.
It should be uncluttered, simple and not overstated (so that it doesn’t take up a lot of “content” area. - The left side under your logo. Web paradigm has established this area as a menu area (or just under your header). This is the most important content-defining area. It’s as important as a table of content is to a novel; or an outline is to a motivational speech. It must be simple, self-explanatory and comprehensive of your web content.
- The middle. This sweet spot (about mid-screen before you scroll; what we call above the fold) has to catch the audience’s eye. The average person spends 10-20 seconds/page. That’s not a lot of time! Make sure this content is short (especially for video: thanks to TV commercial length, I’d say 30 seconds or less), easily scan-able (use bullets and eye-interrupters) as well as benefit driven (because everyone asks “what’s in it for me?”)
Fix these 3 things and the value of your website will increase. Just like it turned out that our house did. It actually increased in value! A little strategic time paid off. And it will for you on your website too!
