Use Tag Lines To Tell What Your Site Is About
A few days ago I’ve been asked my opinion on a design of a new site. The first thing I noticed was that I had no idea what was the site about. This could be shocking for many marketing managers but the truth is that this happens very often.
My first recommendation to this site’s designer was to add a proper tag line to the site logo. The message to deliver here is called the “value proposition” and the aim is to tell users what the goal of your site is (e.g. what you are selling!).
The tag line is usually placed bellow the logo or very close to it. It should be a short phrase explaining in a very easy language what your site has to offer. Try to be precise and not to use estrange words like site-related ones. Here some examples:
Maybe you haven’t heard about Safari Books, but this tag line tells you exactly what the site is about.
Delicious got an interesting approach for its tag line making it part of their menu. It also works very good.
I would recommend to always use a tag line but it is also true that some sites might not need it. For example Amazon is such a well known company that placing the “Shop All Departments” menu so close to the logo makes the tag line redundant for them.
On the other hand, Bountii, a price comparison search engine, does not have a tag line at all. The problem is very clear, is you land to a product’s page it might take you some time to realise that Bountii is a price comparison site.
Disclaimer: with this kind of article I want to point out usability and interface problems some sites could have. Please do not take this as an attack, take it as a free advice. I would like to make clear that this design problems could happen for many reasons, including lack of time or money.
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