Of Hover Flies and Websites

Next time you are in the garden, be sure to keep an eye out for the hoverflies. These wasp-like creatures are a common sight in a UK garden and, as their name suggests, can be seen hovering above flowers and, well, when it comes to it, just about anything they can find. But look that bit closer, and you will see a marvellous bit of flying, the fly bending its bottom forwards while extending its legs out before it. In this manner, it manages, ever so briefly, to touch the surface of the flower, leaf, or perhaps that daisy painted on your cup. Why does it do this? Because it can taste with its feet. This means it only lands on things that it can eat or lays its eggs on. This is important as once it lands, it becomes that bit more vulnerable to predation, so the fewer times it does this ‘by mistake’, the better. But what has this to do with websites? Well, you see, we humans also do a type of ‘hovering’, performing the act the first time we see any website page. We ‘taste’ with our eyes, but we make the same almost instant decision to stay or ‘fly away’. The upshot of this is that any website owner has to make sure that their pages quickly grab the attention of their hovering reader and encourage them to ‘land’ and stay a while longer. Only then will they get a chance of a sale or an enquiry. There are many ways of doing this, images, a video, or some form of an emotional trigger, something that causes the brain to take notice and ‘make’ it want to find out more… This is all about important as it gets, as all the SEO, Social Media Buzz, or PR will do you no good if the page the visitor first sees does not engage their interest and encourage them to linger. Do The HoverFly Test So take a look at your website and the pages that most people arrive on (you can get this information from Analytics) and then do the ‘hoverfly test’. If there is the slightest doubt about someone ‘landing’ you will need to make some changes. It really is worth the effort….

For more information on Of Hover Flies and Websites talk to Serendipity Online Marketing Ltd