The goldfish bowl effect

The goldfish has an attention span of approximately three seconds. The average web site visitor devotes around the same time to your home page before clicking away. It’s vital to get straight to the point.

All of this occurred to me while in the shower. Any man who has shared a shower with a woman will know what I mean… [Ed:  Hold on! I’m not sure I like where this may be going.] You’re standing there wanting to wash your hair and have an array of bottles to choose from.

First, you have to figure out which ones are conditioner and put them to one side. Next, you very carefully read all the remaining labels. Some will give your hair volume. Others will give it life. Yet more proclaim to be designed for blonde hair, straight hair, highlighted hair or dry hair. What you won’t actually see anywhere on any of the bottles are that they are for washing hair.

Usually, I end up with a short list of two candidate bottles and choose one at random. This normally works out okay. Except for the one time when I grabbed the nearest bottle, squinted at it myopically and shampooed. As I did so, it struck me this particular shampoo had a strange aroma. It was only later that I discovered it was dog shampoo without a picture of a dog on the label. My hair had a lovely shine for ages…

But, getting back to web sites, there is a very strong case for saying what you do, not using marketing speak and getting straight to the point. If you build houses, state boldly on your site, “We build houses.”

Do not babble on about working closely with clients to realise their dreams. Well, not unless you do a nice range of double shower cubicles perhaps.