How To Make a Great First Impression With Your Website. A Review
“You’ve failed”.
He didn’t say it directly, but this is how I felt. For the first time of my life, I got my copy reviewed by a really successful, high-level copywriter.
And man… did I learn a lot. Once again, I realized how important fundamentals really are.
Yet, most often than not, we tend to look for fancy tricks. Because tricks and ‘secret’ techniques give us the impression of being able to pull off some crazy ass move, we wouldn’t think it is possible otherwise…
… because you know… people tend to believe they’re not good enough. But luckily, I learned my lesson that day and I feel confident that I’ll be able to write better headlines and bullet points next time.
And more importantly, I start to get a much deeper understanding of all the psychology involved. Especially since I go through the CXL Digital Psychology & Persuasion certification program, many things start to click.
And here I am again. Writing a new blog post, working on my English skills, and talking about what I’ve learned in this 2nd week of the ‘Digital Psychology & Persuasion’ mini degree of CXL.com.
I can already feel how I turn into a psychology geek day by day 🤓 But also turning into the badass copywriter I want to be in the future. 😎
Anyway.
Today, I’ll share with you my experiences of week 2 of the CXL certification program.
Oh and, to be more efficient (like every German person) I actually mapped out a study plan for the upcoming 11 weeks. What a smarty pants, aren’t I? hee hee
Here’s how it looks like:
If you think “Gosh, that looks hella interesting!” then we feel the same. I dunno why, but there is something making me really excited when I look at all the content. Some real content porn right there.
But let’s get straight into the review of week 2. This week I finished the last part of the ‘Product Messaging’ course, talking about copy and persuasive layout & design.
I then watched the ‘Attention Basics’ course, covering the 4 main components you need to get and HOLD attention, especially how to make a first great impression on your website to build trust with the reader right off the bat.
Finally, I went through the ‘Learning & Memory’ course, which gives a brief overview of the main learning and memory processes involved in the human mind. And how they apply to marketing.
Let’s get right into it…
You gain trust digitally through your first impression of your website.
And the first impression is formed in less than 50ms after landing on your page for the first time. Kinda like in real life, isn’t it?
And there are 4 main components for a great first impression on your website:
- Your site should look familiar, not unconventional
- A clear (unique) value proposition
- Compelling and relevant imagery and graphics
- A personal touch
Funnily, the fourth component confirmed one of my own findings from experience. This gave me more certainty on how to optimize this aspect of my wedding photography page. Which is cool 😎
The course then goes into the 2 types of attention factors. Namely, internal vs external factors. I really loved this one a lot.
Not only did I get more awareness of all the things going on webpages, but it also got me a clear understanding and a nice handy overview of ‘attention tools’ I can use myself to get and hold attention better in the future.
Another cool thing was the concept of ‘cognitive load’. Cognitive load basically describes the amount of mental energy that is required to process information, like your website for example.
This is important, because of how long-term memory develops. When the information on your website is processed to a greater degree than other everyday observations, you can tap yourself on your shoulders.
This last sentence really caught my attention! It makes sense, but I’ve never thought this way before.
One last thing on attention…
There were some interesting case studies on the influence of banner ads on home pages and visual cues on lead gen forms.
Unfortunately, the meanings of certain variables for example are not explained beforehand.
So it’s not easy to really understand what’s going on at all times. It takes some real digging to understand what is being done during these tests.
There you have it, some real high cognitive load right there :P
But it’s not that important really.
Moving on…
Persuasive Layout & Design
What should you keep in mind for effective conversion-focused design? This one was really interesting because you usually don’t find much about this.
To name a few key points:
- Which Font size is best for readability online
- Where should you place your most important keywords in your copy
- How to use colors and contrast to support the persuasive power of your copy
- And much more…
I think this gave me a great list of editing checkpoints to keep in mind once I put my copy onto my website.
But the best thing?
How to use wireframes/prototypes of your website.
Did you ever have this feeling that you actually want to know how your copy will look like on the website?
If you’re like me, you prefer editing your copy on the actual page, instead of having a plain text document in front of you. I actually hate it :D
Wireframing allows you to create a basic layout of the web page together with your copy. So it’s like you have an editable preview of the actual page itself.
Not only will you be able to assist or work with designers hand in hand, this can make you stand out from other copywriters and marketers. This is something I’ll get myself later for sure!
They also recommended 3 tools for wireframing:
- Balsamiq (super easy but basic as hell)
- Figma (Fairly intuitive, but way more options)
- Sketch (Has a learning curve, but super versatile)
The Psychology of Learning & Memory
This one was actually rather short. It gives you a quick overview of the 3 main learning processes and how you can use them to condition your audience. Plus, the 3 main processes involved in memory.
The most interesting part was, that people are able to process only 3–4 short-term memories. I think that’s the reason why most websites or eCommerce pages usually list only 3–4 key bullet points next to the call to action button.
So again, I gained more awareness of what’s actually happening on websites, especially great converting websites.
Conclusion of week 2:
Before I forget it, there were little quizzes to test your knowledge sometimes.
They are usually only a few questions long, but they really help to think about what is being taught.
I think a few more quizzes like these in-between would be a great idea to digest the lessons better.
With that being said, I can’t wait to further explore the certification program.
There’s still a lot to discover. And for the upcoming week, I will actually apply some of the research tips for writing copy as I keep going through the content.
This will finally end my messy way of doing research for writing copy.
Till next week,
Sascha, the German Sasha.
