Above the fold

The term above the fold comes from the newspaper industry. When the newspaper is on the rack it is folded and the top of the front page is visible ... people make a decision to buy the paper based on what they see in this area of the paper. On a website this above the fold material has a direct effect on how many people look at additional pages on the site - the bounce rate. For sites that sell products it effects the conversion rate - how many visitors to the site buy a product. Links on this area of the site get used more than any other link on the site; Having your best selling product shown here effects the bottom line of the online business.

There is plenty of research about the above the fold content ... in an article on searchengineland How To Rescue Poorly Converting Web Sites Kim Krause Berg looks directly at above the fold content:

Company name. Some homepages play head games with who they really are and where they’re really from. Trust and credibility are key to conversion rates. If your company name differs from the logo, get it up top and not in the footer.

Why choose us. State why your site visitor should choose your service or product. (You have about 3 seconds to convince them to stay on the page.)

Why we’re better for you. Clearly state your product niche or service and in your content indicate you know who your visitor is and how you can meet their needs. I’m always amazed at how many sites ignore this.

How to start. Place your lead call to action task in this space. It can be a button (“download free trial”) or a short form (“get started now”). Avoid forcing anyone to scroll to complete the top user task.

Here’s how to buy. Start a conversion funnel here. Some visitors will have been to your site earlier. They want to get past the formalities and start a task.

It is not the only reference on the subject. Bottom line above the fold design can make or break an online business. Why don't all web designers talk about the above the fold information? To be honest some designers know graphic arts and some html, they may know about what is SEO friendly and they expect you to know how to market your product online.

Below The Fold

Above the fold and below the fold may be easier to understand using a metaphor. Above the fold is what the people can see before they walk in the door of a retail establishment. We know by measuring traffic and results that above the fold information changes how many people continue through the site, and by measurable results that many of these people who would not of continued when the above the fold content is lacking, become customers when it is not.

Below the fold is where most of the content is, just like a retail store to view the product you need to enter the store. It is a mistake to try to move everything above the fold.

ClickTale Blog has some interesting reports about user interactions with web sites.

• 91% of the page views were long enough to contain scroll-bar. Of those, 76% were scrolled to some extent.
• 22% of the page views with a scroll-bar were scrolled all the way to the bottom.
• Visitors are equally likely to scan the entire page no matter the page size.
• The fold is not a single location, but a broadly dispersed distribution with three peaks located at roughly 430, 600 and 860 pixels. These peaks correspond to the three most popular screen resolutions used today: 800×600, 1024×768 and 1280×1024, minus about 170 pixels used up by the non-client area of the browser. In other words, depending on the screen size, users will typically see at least 430 and up to 860 vertical pixels worth of information on their screens when they open their site, without having to scroll.

Mission of the web site

When consider the design of the above the fold material for a web site the business model or mission of the website needs to be considered. If it is more than a business identity site the above the fold information needs to inform the clients who you are.

Your customers are not dumb but they are ignorant of the products and services you offer. They are using the internet because they can do so while doing 10 other things at the same time. Above the fold design needs to give your customers a basic understanding of your online business ... they don't have time to data mine your site; there are others sites that may convey that they can provide the service the customer needs without making time demands on them. Yes the information needs to be on your site but the above the fold needs to tell the customer quickly what is inside. If there are many services, maybe many sites is the best way to go?

If you are still reading let me give you some valuable information. If the mission statement of the business is such that your customers share the mission - for example a company whose mission is to use recyclable materials has a connection to their customers who also want to use recyclable products. Make the connection!

Sounds to easy?

If you feel that way, thank you, I take that as a complement - Marketing should appear easy when it is done correctly. However, we still need to consider the demographics which can cause considerable changes to how the above the fold content needs to present the site. There are more questions that need to be answered, which should be addressed in the mock up stage - Web Sites Start Here