Sharon's Marketing Missive

Working on a recent project as the Website copywriter, I submitted a draft of the home page of the Website to the design firm so they could build comps around it. The initial designs came back with my copy, but with a big ol’ “Welcome to our Web site” headline towering over my carefully crafted, attention getting headline.

As a Website copywriter, I obviously write a lot of Websites. As a consumer and marketer, I obviously see a lot of Websites.

And I do not get the whole Welcome thing. That home page is valuable real estate. You have three seconds to convince a site visitor to stick around and click around. (And this is true for every page of your Web site if those Website visitors are finding you via search engines and SEO.)

It is assumed they are welcome. Otherwise you wouldn’t have a Website, right? You’d have an intranet. You wouldn’t be visible to the whole World Wide Web.

Your headline has to work really hard. It has to grab that visitor’s attention. It should, you hope, include a keyword phrase. It should make the Website visitor want to see what else is on this page.

Don’t scream “Welcome,” you’re wasting your three seconds of opportunity. Instead scream “You want to know more!” OK, not that. But those big, bold words should be engaging, enticing, encouraging them to stay and see what your Website has to offer.

I had to fight the designers to get that banner welcome text removed and my own headline, which I had labored over, thank you very much, inserted in its place. And that shouldn’t happen, for a couple of reasons. One, I am the Website copywriter. Let me do my job. Two, even Website designers should understand the importance of that three second opportunity that your home page presents when a visitor lands there.

Listen to your Website copywriter. Or let your marketing team or Website designer use the tiresome welcome. The choice is yours…and it’s your site visitor’s choice to click the Back button when they find no immediate reason to stick around.