I received my copy of The Net Effect this month... by the way, if you do not receive this magazine -- GET IT. It will change the way you view the web, SEO and online marketing. It is one of the only magazines I actually read cover to cover each month, but I digress! Interestingly, one of the very first articles I ever read in the magazine was entitled "It's Your Eyes that Buy!" Funny, if you do not believe that to be true, ask your wife! When was the last time she truly needed that third pair of black heels? Retailers have been dominating this theory for years... online is no different.

Research shows that we have only seconds to make a positive impression upon our viewers. If they don't like what they see -- maybe it's too busy, too complicated or what we commonly refer to as "analysis paralysis" -- they will leave your site and, quite frankly, never come back.

The design of your site (or even your blog) can help with lead capture as well as lead conversion. Here are five things to keep in mind when designing your site... and if you're not looking to design a site, ask yourself if your current website does this. If not, you may be looking to redesign your site shortly!

1. Give information to people in bite-sized pieces. Research shows that if you not only group like items together, but also group them into bite-sized pieces, our brains can process the information more easily.

2. Direct people where you want them to go with buttons, shapes and colors. That is why we use a specific format for all of our CTA (call to action) buttons.

3. Product pictures, CTAs and all other buttons should be consistently sized.

4. Use shading and other textures within the design to guide the visitor's eyes. Texture can also make harsh colors softer on the eyes.

5. Keep colors and fonts consistent throughout the site.

Those first few seconds when your potential customer visits your site are all you get to make a good impression, so make it count! "Good visual information design makes smart use of Consistency, Repetition, Alignment and Proximity," according to The Net Effect.

Use these five steps to make sure you are getting the most out of your website. Like I said, you have only seconds to make a positive impression upon your viewers. Make sure you do it!

Copyright (c) 2009 Lindsay Glass