It can be difficult to know what to do when creating or overhauling your webpage. Most of us can determine pretty quickly whether or not we’re going to be comfortable designing a page on our own. Some though, not so much.
More than likely we decide to hand it off to the professionals. A designer who is trained, knowledgeable, and skilled with the necessary tools to bring our vision to digital life in a way that accurately reflects our company.
The first thing which SHOULD happen is the designer will sit and ask, “What do you envision your page being and/or doing?” We hope they ask. They should ask. They better ask. I mean they are web designers, not mind readers, right?
It can be tricky, however, for them to understand fully what website mechanisms and styles of design are going to work best for us. More importantly, what elements of design are going to appeal most to our online customers.
Sometimes the answers are fairly black and white.
There’s a good chance you’ll want to stay away from generally poor design like Mystery Meat Navigation, no matter what you’re presenting.
There are also hot and trendy design elements like Brutalism and alternative page transitions that can work well, if they’re employed correctly.
For most design elements though, the “make or break” determination is more dependent on how the element is used than if the element is used.
The use of video on the landing page falls into this category.
Video, by definition, adds movement to your landing page. Movement is activity, activity is engaging, and engagement is what you’re after!
The secret to capturing your website user’s attention right now is in standing out from every other two-dimensional, cookie-cutter homepages out there.
Homepages with their endless, boring pull down menus and tedious navigation bars. Pages with flat walls of text that cause a user’s eyes to gloss over before they’re halfway through the second sentence.
At the same time, you don’t want to be so overly aggressive with a landing page video that you scare your potential customers off. Keep in mind, some customers need to avoid the harsh and unexpected introduction of sound in some settings. Also, customers despise feeling like they are being held captive on a page or site or content is being forced upon them without their control or consent.
One of the most effective ways for introducing video without crossing the line is to run subtle, supportive video in the background of your landing page on a continuous loop without sound or non-disruptive background music.
Using this method, you’re able to take advantage of the movement and interaction of the video. Thus actively engaging your audience and capturing their attention without hampering their efforts to quickly and effectively navigate your site.
One slightly more aggressive but similarly effective method of using video on your landing page is to embed popular links at certain points in the video. This generally works best if the video has an instructional or tutorial message which gives the customer the impression of being guided through the site.
However, this method also runs the risk of creating some impatience with your users if they know where on the site they’d like to navigate.
Remember, time and ease of use are the universally appealing factors on a website, and we never want to give the impression of sacrificing either.
Also, make sure the video is representative of your site. Don’t have a video that has absolutely nothing to do with you, your business, or your site, just for the sake of having a video. It doesn’t have to be personal or unique to your company, it simply needs to make sense.
Above all, the greatest pitfall of using video as a web design tool for your landing page is the tendency to over do it.. Your goal instead is to create enough comfort and activity that your customer naturally engages in a way cooperative to them. Not to bury your visitors in an aggressive deluge of information or to force them into interaction
As with any web design choices, the best answers are always going to be the ones that best fit your specific set of circumstances and your unique demographic of customers.
Always consider what your particular customers might be seeking, and then try to find a way to provide it to them with something fresh, something creative, and something with an energy that’s going to feel comfortable, cooperative, efficient, and excited!
Contact JEG DESIGN INC today and let us ask you what you envision your website doing for you and your company!