The unforgiving wind blasts coarse sand into your eyes.
If it wasn’t for the pain, it wouldn’t make much of a difference. You haven’t seen anything for days in this desolate land anyway.
You stop. Not because you want to. Because you have to.
How long you can go before you collapse?
The screeching vultures circling above are intrigued by the same question.
At least your mind is still kind enough to allow you a choice
And then you’re given three choices, one that helps you move forward on your journey. One where you’ll have to battle some creature. And another that leads to your inevitable doom.
Do you remember these choose your own adventure stories?
If you think about it, the web is pretty much a giant choose your own adventure story. Except the decisions come at the rate of a single click. And when people visit your website you’re hoping that click is one that moves the visitor deeper into the story of your website.
Not off to do battle with some other creature on the web. Because if they click away that surely means your inevitable doom. (Okay, that’s a bit dramatic.)
But it’s a good way to think about your homepage
We’ve talked before about how important it is to keep things simple. Especially when you want people to take some type of action. But as you start putting together a homepage the temptation to over-stuff it with information can often get the best of you.
And that just leads to too many piles on your already messy desk.
Even when you know you need to simplify things it’s difficult because you feel the page needs to do a number of things.
Choose your own adventure saves the day
Instead of loading all the info on the homepage, you offer the choices instead. Then the visitor makes a decision and gets taken to the in-depth information they need.
So let’s say you want to:
- Let visitors know why you’re different from the competition out there
- Provide people who want help now the means to get it
- Take people to the next step of signing up for free resources
Choose your own adventure makes that simple without overwhelming your visitors. A headline and some compelling copy is enough to get them to the place they need to go.
Here’s a good example
Take a visit to Cheerios.
Notice the simple homepage that allows visitors to choose their own adventure without getting overwhelmed.
It’s not trying to give you all the information at once. But rather it’s getting you to the right place for the information you need.
And when you’re making it easy for people to get the info they need the story has a happy ending. Let those other guys worry about the inevitable doom. 😉
So remember:
Don’t try to get all the info onto one page. Keep it simple by giving a few choices that lead to the info your audience needs to get.
Action step:
Use the Cheerios site as a guide. Set-up three main choices for your homepage visitors. Then remove all the other stuff.