Thinking about what’s on your webpage and in your potential customer’s initial view will help you market more effectively. Marketing and ad placement can be very important, here we look into best practices for below and above the fold website content.
Website design is something that’s not a one-size-fits-all solution but it’s most important to consider what, on your page, is above the fold when you arrange ad and widget placement.
The Fold
Above the fold is the space within the browser window people see when they first land on your page. Below the fold equals places they’ll need to scroll to see. Being above the fold has the advantages because people who first land on your page are most likely to see everything above the fold. If you’re offered payment for ad space on your blog, the advertiser might insist that their ad be placed above the fold.
What should you put above the fold and below the fold of your website? This is a personal decision and one that you may find some experienced internet marketers disagree on but below are some general guidelines you may want to keep in mind.
What Should You Put Above The Fold
• Your primary website or blog monetization method. This might not apply when your page is a long sales letter and while you may have a buy now button way down at the bottom of the page, you might also choose to add a related widget above the fold as well in case some of your visitors are in a hurry and want to get to “the point”.
• Advertising, such as Google Adsense if this is your primary means of revenue.
• RSS feed button so people can subscribe to your blog. In truth, you may want to just be sure it’s easy to find by using the easily recognised orange RSS box somewhere on the blog.
• Opt-in widget. Are you trying to get people to sign up for something? Put this bit of info above the fold so you can try to capture the attention of people who might bounce off the first page without digging deeper.
What Should You Put Below The Fold
• Tag cloud
• Blogroll
• Blog categories
• Recent comments
• Blog community widgets such as MyBlogLog or BlogCatalog.
After you decide for yourself, be sure to analyse what your click through rate is so you can determine if you’ve chosen good placement or not and preview your page in several different browsers so you can determine where exactly the fold for your page tends to be. Some testing and analysis over time could help you find the ideal design for maximum sales success.
There are also some great ways of designing a blog so that your theme puts as much useful information at the top of the screen as possible. Choose your blog theme carefully. Instead of a long single column sidebar, you might have a three or four column template that allows you to fit more in above the fold and you may also have several tabs across the header of the page as well. Choosing to display just a few blog posts per page also reduces the amount of scrolling and empty space the viewer has to endure.
The easier it is for your visitor to see straight off that they’ve landed on a page that has valuable information (by placing it above the fold), the more likely they’ll click through to something on the page rather than leave immediately. Do be careful not to overcrowd the screen, otherwise your design will be poor and that will turn visitors off more than having to scroll would do.
About Sean Rasmussen
What an educational article. This really opens your mind about things to think about when someone first arrives on your landing page. Thanks for making my never-ending TO DO List a lot longer!
You’re right about it being a personal decision – it’s a fine balance. You have to know your target market and how they think about these things. I think that’s the real issue. For example, some might think seeing Ads straight up too spammy, others not. The best way to find out is through testing and checking your stats.
So I take it that things like Facebook widgets should be below the fold as well?
I think I am in for a bit of a redesign
I think that something like a FB Fan Page widget above the fold should be OK Gee.
Personally I would rather have my RSS feed or Opt-in above the fold, as I would be looking for readers to follow me for a longer-term period than just clicking on a ad and never coming back.
What good advice. To really take the time and effort to evaluate what is going to be seen when someone lands on your page is such good reasoning.
I am going to go back and forth to my sites and make sure that what is above the fold is exactly what is going to entice anyone and everyone to continue and investigate.
That space above the fold is indeed so valuable. It means that if you get it right you can use the rest of the page and site in a different way.
Above the fold must truly hook the potential customer. Now all I have to do is find out how to do that.
That is a great collection of tips. As the target with each website is a bit different it will also vary what you put on and in what place. But this guidelines are very helpful thanks.
Hi Sean,
This is really interesting. I’m using a blog template that looks fairly standard on the home page. But, if you want to look at an older article, there is a huge white space below the header and before the post starts. The heading tells readers that it’s the archive for a certain category and they can click for previous entries.
So, that would make the post below the fold? Is there anything I can do to fix this or will I have to change my theme?
Without seeing it, I am unsure Jazz. Are you sure the white space is not where adsense ads should be showing (but aren’t for some reason?)
Hi Sean,
I really feel it’s something to do with the theme I’ve chosen. I’ll get the Zodiacs in the forum to take a look for me. I’m sure the guys will be able to fix it for me.
This post is very informative and well laid out. It is easily the best summation I have seen of the what’s and how’s about what works best above and below the fold.
Thanks Sean for this very valuable information!
Hi Sean
Thank you for this information as it will definitely give us a greater advantage as internet marketers serious about monetizing our blogs. It is interesting how a little bit of research into human psychology and physiology can determine a successful placement of content, objects and advertisements on a blog page.
It will save a lot of time and effort knowing this. I am sure that has to be good thing. Thank you.
An interesting coincidence. “What Is Above And Below The Fold”. I should have saved half my comment on the previous article for this one.
With regard to a blog or web site, you have only a few seconds to grab the casual visitor’s attention before they’re gone. You must use the “above the fold” space on the screen to its best advantage and get your main idea across to the visitor quickly. An eye-catching headline or graphic may be all that’s required to get the “surfer” to stop and see what you are offering.