Do people visit a site specifically for the content and overlook the design? No, it goes hand in hand. When looking at most political sites, I found them to be crowed and messy, therefore creating annoyance and confusion. Most of these site were also only generated towards an older population, probably male. So the question became, how does a site generate more viewers and target a larger number of people? Visual appeal could possibly be the answer.
Color consistency is great and makes the homepage look polished, check out The Texas Tribune and notice their use of recurring colors. Orange and black litter the page yet tie everything together. The homepage is clean and sparse, yet with enough links to send readers to the right places. It is not overwhelming like Politico where it seems that the scroll bar goes on forever. Instead of trying to squeeze as many headlines and short blurbs on a page, it would look better and ultimately become more useful if the site was broken into sections. For example, a section of stories that were most viewed, a section about local news, world news, breaking stories...something that brings more order to the chaos.
Perez Hilton, celebrity blogger and extreme harasser, has a great banner when you enter his page. It is definitely an attention grabber. This could be useful on our page because you know right away what site you are looking at. Especially if you type keywords into Google and click on the links it offers without noticing which exact site you are going to. It makes its presence known.
PICTURES! The Texas Tribune always has a stunning picture. It is usually raw and inspiring. Videos are also an interactive way to spread news and serves as an alternate way of getting the facts. I think only a few pictures, if not less than three, should be allowed on the homepage. There isn't a need to slam as much information and visuals in such a small space. Some carefully chosen pictures or video could be used as a teaser to get readers to continue exploring the site.
Consistency is a must. Catchy headlines make people click on stories regardless of what the actual content is. Humor draws in people of all ages, and those of the younger generation can relate and appreciate it.
NFL has a post game day discussion. I am drawn to this site every day for their quick quips about game day behavior and commentary.The headlines stay the same no matter what team is discussed. It was over when...Noteworthy...What we learned...There are two links on top of the page, Quick Take or Full Story. I like this feature a lot. It gives me an option but also a taste of what the full story will be like. I also read the quick take for a few minutes in the morning and then go back to the full story when I have time. This is a good feature. If the reader likes a few sentences of what they read, they will come back for more. This will get them back on the page when they have time and cause them to explore the site in more depth.
Now, how about something different? We talked about interactive polls or a daily comic. Both are good ideas. This will be something consistent that causes the reader to look for it daily and either participate or not. Just the act of having it there daily is a good idea. Our group also brainstormed ideas for having a personal story written by a reader. Looking, once more, at The Texas Tribune, you'll notice a section above the header of three different stories. We could place this idea here. Also, a daily fact, something titled, "Did you know?" It could be a random fact about a political figure, history of a state, America in general, something short and interesting that only takes a few seconds to read. Maybe even trivia.
Yahoo! has a picture roll that I find very catchy. It takes up a small space somewhere on the homepage with a picture and a short caption. If you roll your mouse over each picture it enlarges with a link to click on the full story. There can be 15 pictures in that small space with stories. This is a good idea to condense a lot of information in an easy to view manner.
These are all ideas to boost viewers. If a site is easy to navigate and understand then readers will come back.
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