Please help me shortlist my Header Design - Vote

11 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
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Hi Guys,

We are about to launch our Blog and just working on the header design. I would love to have your feedback or even just a vote on which design you like the most and why and if possible, what do you not like about the design.

You can see the 4 similar but slightly different designs at the link below.

LINK OUTDATED

Any suggestions on usability etc would also be useful. The CTA on the header is the subscription box. Do you feel the other elements might be too distracting? I like the idea of the word cloud but I do wonder if its take the focus away from the CTA?

Thanks
#design #header #shortlist #vote
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    • Profile picture of the author bhconsultant
      Originally Posted by TrafficFlow View Post

      I like number 4.

      Second choice is number 1
      Thanks. Any specific reason for preferring 4 over the others?
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  • Profile picture of the author Ron Killian
    Sorry I think they look too similar to say which one looks better. Since they are so similar, it's down to real small details.

    One question though, why have the opt in in the header image? I ask because your going to be limited in what you can put there. "Get Free Blog Updates" is most likely going to be very low converting. Unless optins is not important.
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    • Profile picture of the author bhconsultant
      Originally Posted by Ron Killian View Post

      Sorry I think they look too similar to say which one looks better. Since they are so similar, it's down to real small details.

      One question though, why have the opt in in the header image? I ask because your going to be limited in what you can put there. "Get Free Blog Updates" is most likely going to be very low converting. Unless optins is not important.
      Thanks. Yeah, they are fairly similar, as we finalised on these after quite a few other options, but are trying to choose between the similar versions based on the minor details. Do you have a favourite?

      The opt is in the header to improve conversion but I agree the option incentive currently is not strong enough. We will improve the incentive and offer some free info in the form of a pdf or a course shortly.

      Originally Posted by ChrisDH View Post

      As Ron says above they all look quite similar. One thing I would say is I would change the colour of your "Get Updates" button to something that isn't the same as your site so it stands out rather than blends in,
      Thanks. Among the choices, if you were to choose one, which one would you go for? Yeah, I have been thinking about that too as I do want to make it stand out. I was just worried, that going for something too different, may compromise on the design a bit too much. What sort of colour would you go for in this case? Alternatively, I was thinking of making the subscribe box pop more by using a 3d image. Perhaps you have other ideas on making it POP more?

      Thanks guys for all the inputs.
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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisDH
    As Ron says above they all look quite similar. One thing I would say is I would change the colour of your "Get Updates" button to something that isn't the same as your site so it stands out rather than blends in,
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  • Profile picture of the author Ron Killian
    This is only my opinion and I am no design expert, so take this it leave it...

    If it was me I would shrink the header height and only have the logo/site name and the cloud tag graphic. I myself like the tag cloud because it kind of explains what the site is about. I say shrink the header because it's not doing anything but displaying your name and tag-line. You don't want to give up too much valuable web page real estate for something that is not going to do something for you. No?

    Since I mentioned shrinking the header height, your opt-in should not be there anyways. If your serious about getting subscribers/build a list. Right now your lucky if it will convert at 5%. There is just not enough room to do what you need to, to get higher opt-in rates. In my opinion.

    Same goes for the share buttons. While it looks nice, you don't have the room to tell people to share. Just like a sales page, you need to tell people what to do. It's been proven that telling people to share increases the likelihood.

    Just my thoughts
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    • Profile picture of the author bhconsultant
      Originally Posted by Ron Killian View Post

      This is only my opinion and I am no design expert, so take this it leave it...

      If it was me I would shrink the header height and only have the logo/site name and the cloud tag graphic. I myself like the tag cloud because it kind of explains what the site is about. I say shrink the header because it's not doing anything but displaying your name and tag-line. You don't want to give up too much valuable web page real estate for something that is not going to do something for you. No?

      Since I mentioned shrinking the header height, your opt-in should not be there anyways. If your serious about getting subscribers/build a list. Right now your lucky if it will convert at 5%. There is just not enough room to do what you need to, to get higher opt-in rates. In my opinion.

      Same goes for the share buttons. While it looks nice, you don't have the room to tell people to share. Just like a sales page, you need to tell people what to do. It's been proven that telling people to share increases the likelihood.

      Just my thoughts
      Thanks Ron for the valuable advice. I am kind of with you in terms of keeping the header to minimum. In terms of the opt-in, are you saying it wont be more than 5% even with the giveaways that we intend to give (we will make that a lot more obvious once the product to be given away is ready)?

      I am totally with you in Tag Cloud, I guess it really helps explain the purpose of the site in 2 seconds, especially at a time when the blog is very new and there is not much content.

      For the share buttons, can you elaborate?
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  • Profile picture of the author Ron Killian
    As for the opt-in, I was just trying to say, something like "Sign up for Updates" is not going to get many takers. No compelling reason(s) for them to give up their email address. Why should they sign up? What good reason is there? What are updates?

    If your site was very well know, or name was very well know, or you had incredibly killer content, then it might convert okay.

    Would you give up your email address if you were a visitor?

    With any share buttons, you increase sharing by telling them to share. Just a like a sales letter, you increase conversions by telling them to click the buy button. While some people might share, most you need to encourage them to do it.
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    • Profile picture of the author bhconsultant
      Originally Posted by Ron Killian View Post

      As for the opt-in, I was just trying to say, something like "Sign up for Updates" is not going to get many takers. No compelling reason(s) for them to give up their email address. Why should they sign up? What good reason is there? What are updates?

      If your site was very well know, or name was very well know, or you had incredibly killer content, then it might convert okay.

      Would you give up your email address if you were a visitor?

      With any share buttons, you increase sharing by telling them to share. Just a like a sales letter, you increase conversions by telling them to click the buy button. While some people might share, most you need to encourage them to do it.
      Hi Ron,

      In terms of the compelling reason, please refer to my reply in my earliest post. This is a placeholder, the "compelling reason" would be there to replace this shortly after the launch.

      In terms of the share button, what more would you do to get them to take action? For e.g. would you simply add some text? I know the response rate on the share buttons may be less than 2%, but what would be the advantage of not having them at all, as that is pretty much 0%? Do you see any other advantages of getting rid of the social icons?
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  • Profile picture of the author Monatank
    Originally Posted by bhconsultant View Post

    Hi Guys,

    We are about to launch our China Sourcing Blog and just working on the header design. I would love to have your feedback or even just a vote on which design you like the most and why and if possible, what do you not like about the design.

    You can see the 4 similar but slightly different designs at the link below.

    Index of /Shortlist

    Any suggestions on usability etc would also be useful. The CTA on the header is the subscription box. Do you feel the other elements might be too distracting? I like the idea of the word cloud but I do wonder if its take the focus away from the CTA?

    Thanks
    No. 4 is the best one because it looks simple & more professional then another one.
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