How Visual Cues on Your Website Might Say More Than Words

Author
Shane Melaugh   35

Updated on December 23, 2019

If you meet someone and they tell you "I'm happy!" while they have a huge frown on their face, do you believe that they are happy?

People communicate with more than just words. And so do websites.

Regardless of what the words on your pages say, the visual design of your website also speaks volumes. And as you'll discover in today's video, sometimes having an "unoriginal" website is better than having a unique one...​

More...

Prototypical Design and Online Marketing Soft Skills

​The website featured in today's review is John Hannah Mind Coach.

In the video, we touch on many subjects, so I want to provide some additional resources to help you make the most of it:

Create a Kick-Ass Website by Understanding the Visitor Journey

This is a post which goes into more detail about the importance of the visitor journey and how you can use this concept to create better, higher performing websites.

Create the Ultimate "Hybrid" Long Form Sales Page

This post illustrates what you might call an extreme example of taking the visitor by the hand and leading them on a journey. That's what old school, long form copywriting is all about, after all. And in this post, you'll see a fresh take on that classic approach.

Why "Simple" Websites Are Scientifically Better

This post on ConversionXL goes into more detail about the concept of prototypical websites and backs it all up with some interesting stats and studies.

With that, you have a lot at your disposal to build up some of those elusive (and rarely talked about) "soft skills" of online marketing.

If you enjoyed this post, let us know by leaving a comment and sharing it on social media!​

Shane

by Shane Melaugh  June 10, 2016

35

Disclosure: Our content is reader-supported. This means if you click on some of our links, then we may earn a commission. We only recommend products that we believe will add value to our readers.

Enjoyed this article ?

You might also like:

Leave a Comment

  • I was looking forward to reading the post, only to find out the information is in a video. Ug. Aside from being time consuming (I can read much faster than watch), I have trouble hearing, so I pretty much always skip videos.

    • Hello Valerie,

      Some content is just more suited for videos than text. Of course, different people have different preferences, so you’ll find a mix of video and text content on our blog.

  • Completely agree with your comments Shane.

    But further, I find it ironic that this is the website of an NLP coach…

    NLP is all about understanding how people communicate, and using specific techniques to communicate more effectively by understanding and accommodating people’s preferences in the way they process and interpret things. Amongst other things, it includes ways to be more persuasive!

    The website appears to demonstrate little knowledge of the subject! To my mind this is more harmful than the lack of marketing skills, as it undermines the credibility of the offering itself.

    I would suggest that the owner review his site in the light of the NLP principles that he knows and teaches.

    Oh, and it wouldn’t hurt to fix the glaring typos either…

    • Hi Tim,

      Yeah, that’s a good point. This could also be a case of the cobbler’s children problem. 🙂

  • Great post here Shane! I’m currently redoing my entire site using Thrive Content Builder. As a Certified Professional Life Coach, I want my site to focus on my clients, their needs and why I am invested in their success. I struggled at first not listing services on my homepage – I haven’t launched the changes yet, but this video here really helped me realize that I’m on the right track. Thank you – I needed this today!

  • Thank you for explaining the ways to align and the ways to be unique to help consumers. I think I got it. Now I have to apply it.

  • I’m alway glad when you do video’s Shane! I feel much more involved. Besides that you have an really excellent way of explaining things.

    I’m happy to be a Thrive member while thrive gives me all the tools to give my website visual cues. I cannot hear enough about how important it is to speak about the why instead of the what, because you become blind for your own business very soon and then you forget the important stuff: to sell to your customers!

    • Thanks for your comment, Harry! Yes, we do indeed become blind to our own business and work. This is why I think reviews like this can be quite useful.

  • Another great insight Shane. What really caught my attention was how you produced the video. I really want to know how I too can great such great videos. Got any training on on video production techniques like the one you use?

    Aloha,

    Will

    • Hi Will,

      Thanks for your comment! I don’t have any material on how we create our videos, unfortunately.

  • Great job explaining the information. The video was very helpful.
    Larry T.
    P. S.
    BTW, I hope your skin is thick enough to ignore the complainer who wanted text instead of a video. The rest of us truly appreciate your work.

    • Thanks for your comment, Larry! Don’t worry about the criticism, I’m well aware that it’s impossible to please everyone. 🙂

  • I agree with your comments of the site. My first thought on seeing the site is that it lacked pic’s and color there was not eye catching and compelling visual experience that would make me look further.Great response hopes this helps the site Owner

  • I always look forward to your videos Shane. You have a real natural and interesting way of presenting your material; I always learn something.

  • Thanks so much for your vids and blogs. I love all the info. you have to share and always so helpful. I love your company´s tools as well, like themes and content builder, leads, and everything. Just wanted to give you a thumbs up and say thanks for what you do and offering such quality!

  • Yes, i totally agree to what you just said. I like all themes but i think there is one thing that is missing- Best Ads optimization. I wish this could be included in the next upgrade so that those of us who use Adsense or other Ads can utilize these themes at its best. Thanks

    • Hi Anthony,

      I agree ad optimization is something that’s hard to come by. It’s something I’d like to build into a new version of the Performag theme, once we get around to creating that.

  • Hello, Shane Sir
    This is fantastic Informative Post Great Visual Cues Great job explaining the information. The video was very helpful.Keep Up The Good Work,
    Have a Nice Day Ahead,

  • Shane, thank you for your detailed review. I find this very useful. Currently working on design for a new website and I will take your advice to heart.

  • There was absolutely nothing that caught my eye on this site apart from the ink blot. You just wouldn’t know what to start and in fact what there was to start. Do you think heat maps help in these situations and do you use them

    • Hi Joe,

      Heatmapping could help, but their use is quite limited. One thing a heatmap could tell you is which of the menu items visitors are most interested in. That could inform what kind of information should be put on the front page.

      What a heatmap can never tell you is what stuff should be added to a page that’s currently not there yet, because it can only show you visitor interactions with currently existing elements on a page.

  • Thanks for sharing your views about website designing. You have explained it very well. Hope to get more website designing and development updates from your site.

  • {"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}
    >