Cynthia Oswald

Surface Design, Fine Art + Branding for Creatives

brand strategy

Top 3 Things to Think About Regarding Your Website Page Fold

Website Success Tips

Consideration of the page fold

What is a page fold? For physical projects consider a brochure, a natural break occurs when you open up a panel. It’s when you literally turn the page — creating those very apparent, natural breaks in the text and visuals. In the digital world, a page fold is considered anything you can see within the screen on the device you are using to view the web page, when you find yourself needing to scroll down to see more, you have found the page fold. 

On a website, there are a few things that you want to consider before a visitor starts to scroll down your web page. Below are my top 3 things to think about when viewing your website with the consideration of the page fold in mind.

1. Understand what is showing up on the screen when someone lands on our site from all devices

The first thing to consider is: what does the web visitor see when landing on your webpage? Do they see everything you are wanting them to see or are they not seeing enough? Make sure to consider the devices that someone could be using to view your website (phone, laptop, tablet, desktop). Every device has a different page fold, so you want to make sure to use the viewfinder to see what the screen view looks like on each device. Usually, your website should be responsive to different devices, but it never hurts to double-check that everything translates properly.

2. Including a CTA 

At the top of the page (and this goes for all web pages, not just your home page), you want to make sure that you always have a call to action above the fold. Consider having a call-out section above the fold that includes a header, a little bit of copy that articulates what they can expect to learn or find on this page, and a quick button so they can easily click into the goal location. Some web visitors are coming to your website to take immediate action, so you want to make sure that the CTA is up-front and center so they don’t have to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the webpage to find the link they are looking for.

3. Create Natural Breaks

In the case that a visitor decides not to immediately click on the CTA at the top of the webpage, and begins to scroll, you will want to make sure that you have created natural breaks on the page. Why is this important? You don’t want it to feel like an endless scroll with no hierarchy.  It’s not visually pleasing and can cause your visitor to lose interest. Try these design elements to help create natural feeling page breaks:

  • color blocking
  • images
  • lines
  • whitespace

These options can create mental indicators to the reader which content belongs together and when the next thought has begun. Creating those natural breaks in the page allows the end-user to have a pleasing overall experience when viewing your website. It’s a way to create breathing room online versus the physical world. 

Want to know more website success tips? Download my FREE Website Checklist!

Is your website optimized to reach its fullest potential in search engines? Whether you’re looking to improve your site’s SEO strategy or start building a strong online presence from the ground up, I’m here to help. Let’s discuss how we can increase your visibility and attract more of your ideal customers. Reach out for a personalized SEO consultation, and together, we’ll ensure your website not just exists but stands out and attracts the audience it deserves.

Book Your Web Design Consultation

Creating a Style Guide

Website Success Tips

Creating your brand cheat sheet

I am excited to share some important things you want to be considering when it comes to the visuals you have on your website and something I always create for my clients is a brand cheat sheet (also known as a brand board). 

A style guide is a comprehensive set of parameters that clearly articulates how your brand should come across in terms of spacing, color, size, fonts, and more. I like to create a mini version of this or a brand board/cheat sheet for yourself that helps you stay consistent and cohesive throughout your website and your communication platforms. Examples of this would be when building an email template, building or editing different aspects of your website, or when creating social media graphics. In addition to creating brand cohesion, having a brand cheat sheet allows you to work so much faster! You aren’t wasting time trying to figure out what color you used last time, what font did I use as my body font, etc. 

Brand boards are pretty simple to make, I would suggest using Canva or Adobe Express to make one for your business if you don’t have one already. Listed below are some things to include in your brand cheat sheet if you are creating your own.

What to include on your website brand cheat sheet

Hex Colors

What are hex colors? They are color codes that have a hashtag followed by a combination of six digits (can be letters or numbers or both!). For example, one of my hex codes is #3C462D — the super secret code for the dark green in my branding. 

How do I find out what the hex codes are for my brand colors? If you have the color makeup for your brand colors in CMYK or RBG you can convert to HEX here: https://convertacolor.com/

I would suggest having 3-5 hex colors for your brand. You should be able to use these hex codes throughout your email marketing, social media, and website seamlessly.

Fonts

It is always nice to outline the fonts you are going to come across throughout your branding. Having two to four font treatments gives you some great variation to make your brand stand out while also remaining consistent. At the very least the two types of fonts you want to make sure you include are a headline font and body copy font.

Logos

All variations of your logo—horizontal, vertical, square, emblems, one-color, full-color, etc. and any specific parameters that you need to adhere by. This could include spacing around the logo or colorways available.

Brand Imagery

Here you’ll include main brand images you want to show alongside your logo. You want these to be cohesive with your brand and serve as examples of what type of imagery you want to use and want people to associate with your brand.

I hope the tips above help you create a quick brand board that serves as a catalyst for brand cohesion in your business going forward! 

Are you in need of brand support? I’d love to hear from you. Reach out for a consultation to bring your vision to life. Are you looking for more logo inspiration and direction? Learn more about what makes a logo great here.

Bring your logo to life

Connection through communication on your website

Website Success Tips

Creating ways for people to connect on your website

Creating a way for people to connect with you throughout your website is simple and easy to accomplish. Should you provide an email or a phone number? How about a form that sends directly to your email? You also want to also make sure your information is protected. There are bots that scan websites for your information and sometimes putting a direct link to your phone number or email isn’t the safest option.

If your business is one in an industry where it is customary and common to have customers reach out by phone and you have someone dedicated to answering the phone, then absolutely include a phone number on your website. If your business doesn’t primarily have communication by phone with your customers, I would use a Contact Us button for the website visitor to connect with you via email, by filling out a form, or to schedule a call. The use of a button on your website helps protect your email or information since it isn’t directly given on your website, it is linked instead. My personal favorite option is offering a way for someone to schedule a call — to fill out a form and find a spot on your calendar right away. I think it’s really useful for any kind of service provider.

Where to include contact information on your website

Contact Page

When someone is going to your website, they are looking at your product or service and wanting to build a relationship or connection with you, so you want to make sure you’re allowing that to happen in the most seamless way possible for them. My suggestion would be to have an easily accessible page on your website dedicated to informing the web visitor of how they can inquire further about working together or purchasing your product. Over the years we have been conditioned to look in the top right-hand corner of the website to find that “Contact” page, so I would always have a link to the Contact page in that location.

Website Footer

Including a link or navigation menu in the footer of your site that links your visitor back to your service pages and your contact page is always a great idea. If someone took the time to scroll through the entire page you want to have an easy place for them to take the next step and connect.

It’s also good to include social media handles and/or an email opt-in. I would sprinkle the email marketing subscription form or lead magnet throughout your site and through a couple of pop-up forms if possible. Providing a useful lead magnet helps to offer real value to your users and a natural way to stay connected with users through their inboxes.

Is your website optimized to reach its fullest potential in search engines? Whether you’re looking to improve your site’s SEO strategy or start building a strong online presence from the ground up, I’m here to help. Let’s discuss how we can increase your visibility and attract more of your ideal customers. Reach out for a personalized SEO consultation, and together, we’ll ensure your website not just exists but stands out and attracts the audience it deserves.

Book Your Web Design Consultation

Your Why & The Offer You Are Making 

Why it’s important to share why you started your business & your unique position on your website

The about page is one of the most highly visited pages on your website (check your website analytics to find out for sure which pages get the most views on your site!). When someone comes to your website, they usually start on your homepage and then immediately navigate over to the about page to scope you out a bit further and get to know you a bit better. So, it is important to incorporate the human element on that page—that could be accomplished via your brand photographs and relatable, conversational language. I know when I go to a website and consider a product or service and I can’t find any human aspect to the site or information about the person behind the brand, I am less likely to buy. That human element is something we all unknowingly look for when we are perusing the web, so take the opportunity to be really clear with your audience and share your why. 

I like to think about Noom the weight loss app. It’s genius in helping people lose weight.  The first question they ask you is “Why do you want to lose weight?” You give your answer, but they dive deeper into your response to narrow in a little further on your true, genuine “why”. 

For example, let’s say your answer to why you want to lose weight is, “Because I want to feel good.” The follow up question you would receive from Noom would be, “Why do you want to feel good?” And you answer, “Because I want to be able to run around with my kids/dog/etc.” It just keeps getting closer and closer to your real why versus the broad answer you originally started with. 

I think that that’s something to keep in mind when you’re talking about your business as well. 

Really get down to the nitty gritty of why you’re offering what you’re offering. That real why is something you and your audience can truly connect with.

For me, I have two facets of my business:

  • One is in the service space where I’m offering branding and web design services for people. The why really comes down to the fact that I actually love helping to shed light on people’s strengths and that’s something that I’ve learned more and more about myself over time. It just makes me feel good, so doing branding and web design is kind of like a no brainer, because I can help people highlight their strengths really naturally on their websites and their brands. 
  • The other is home decor/fine art space. That’s more about me being able to express myself through my art, but my why behind doing it is to create a space of hope and beauty in the home of whoever collects the work. 

So take a moment or two to think about your why. Jot it down if you don’t have it already, and then build on it to include why you are uniquely positioned to offer your product or service.

On my website, I start out by matter of factly explaining about what I’m doing, then I dive deeper by sharing a little bit about my inspiration and even take you back to my childhood. You see a picture of me from when I was a kid and you learn a little bit more about who I am as a person and why am I inspired to continue doing what I’m doing. Next, I get into more about what qualifies me to help those people by sharing my education and my background towards the bottom of my site. Placement of your why and why you are uniquely positioned on your website may differ based on what feels right for you.

Just to recap …

1) Have that human element. Make sure—whether you’re a business of one or many—to show who you are as a business and be as honest about that as you possibly can. Your target audience is going to appreciate that. 

2) Then identify why you are uniquely positioned to offer that product or service.

Want to know more website success tips? Download my FREE Website Checklist!

Is your website optimized to reach its fullest potential in search engines? Whether you’re looking to improve your site’s SEO strategy or start building a strong online presence from the ground up, I’m here to help. Let’s discuss how we can increase your visibility and attract more of your ideal customers. Reach out for a personalized SEO consultation, and together, we’ll ensure your website not just exists but stands out and attracts the audience it deserves.

Book Your Web Design Consultation

Share Your Offering

Include your offer prominently on your website

Sharing your product or service with your audience on your website seems pretty straightforward, right?  I have been guilty of completely missing to include my offer. And it’s a big mistake that I remind myself of every time I create a new page. You don’t have that long for people to get engaged with what you’re sharing with them once they pop onto your website (usually less that 0.5 seconds), so you want to make it really clear 1) what it is you’re offering and 2) how it can benefit them. Pretty simple, right? 

I’m going to share the three things you should take into consideration in terms of location of your offer on your website, and then dive a little bit into how you can expand on it so that it can help your audience determine whether it’s right for them. 

Locations to Include Your Offering

1. Your Homepage

Make sure your offer is simply stated on your homepage.  A great place to put it would be right underneath your mission (Crafting Your Mission + Value Statement For Your Website), with a call to action so that your website visitor can click and be redirected to the expanded version of your offer. 

2. Your Product or Service Page

Each of your offers or products should be listed on your product or services webpage. Each offer should have a short description (usually 1-2 sentences or a few bullet points) underneath to give more detail as to what is included in the offer. SEO can play a huge part in visibility of your offers (Click here to for my Top 5 SEO Tips), so make sure that you are being very intentional with the keywords you are using in your product/service descriptions. Try your best to have them relate back to what it is people are searching for when they are looking for your particular product or service.

3. Sales Page

The third and final place I think that you want to make a specific offer is a landing page/sales page that can be clicked to “learn more” when someone is viewing your product or services page. I would suggest having a sales page for each offer you have. Having an entire page that clearly articulates, dives deeper, and really speaks to your target audience is going to help you make the sale. Be sure to include a clear explanation of what they can expect from the product/service and how they are going to benefit or the transformation they are going to receive. This is also a great place to add a testimonial about your product or service. Do you look at product reviews? We all do! Creating a dedicated sales page helps overcome objections, and seals the deal in the viewers mind that they 100% want to work with you.

Articulate the Transformation

Get creative about sharing how your particular product or service actually benefits your ideal client. What is the transformation for the people who are buying it? How does the product or service change their life or meet their needs? 

Want to know more website success tips? Download my FREE Website Checklist!

Is your website optimized to reach its fullest potential in search engines? Whether you’re looking to improve your site’s SEO strategy or start building a strong online presence from the ground up, I’m here to help. Let’s discuss how we can increase your visibility and attract more of your ideal customers. Reach out for a personalized SEO consultation, and together, we’ll ensure your website not just exists but stands out and attracts the audience it deserves.

Book Your Web Design Consultation