5. Sites That Make Users Hunt for
Answers to Common Questions
This may surprise you, but a substantial number of the people who visit your website want nothing more than answers to the most basic of questions, such as:
- What is your phone number?
- Where are you located?
- What hours are you open?
- Do you take credit cards (and, if so, which ones)?
- Do you offer scuba lessons?
Unfortunately, a number of dive store websites make visitors hunt for this information. For example, at far too many sites:
- Visitors have to click on a link labeled Contact Us to get to the only page on the site with the store’s phone number, address and/or hours.
- Whether or not the store accepts credit cards (or which ones they do) is unclear.
- What one has to do to become certified can be a complete mystery (we devote the entire next page to this).
Newspapers are very conscious of what headlines and stories appear “above the fold” — that portion of the front page that you see when the newspaper is folded and displayed on a rack. This concept also applies to dive store websites.
The answers to your visitors’ most common questions should be readily visible in the top 600 pixels of your home page — the portion users will first see upon arriving at your site.
See full-size example (opens in new window).
If visitors can’t find the answers to these common questions on your home page, there is a good chance they won’t trouble themselves to look further.
4. No Clear Path to Certification »
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