Building Websites like a Youtube Short
Standing up a new website these days is pretty easy to do using tools like Squarespace, but many sites that are built quickly never seem to convert visitors into customers, or have huge drop-off in engagement after only a few seconds. Have you ever found yourself in one of the following scenarios?
Your site looks nice thanks to a great looking template, but your analytics is telling you that site engagement is less than a few seconds on average?
Your call-to-action contact forms aren’t being used at all
Your site is packed with so much information, it looks like a technical manual instead of something that's memorable
It’s not the tool that’s at fault — It may be how your site is structured and the content that’s holding you back.
What does short-form video content have to do with website building?
Most people browsing websites are on their mobile devices rather than in front of their desktop. Being on bite-sized devices means that people are consuming content in bite-sized chunks of time, and there's no better example of successful bite-sized content than TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts.
These short, 30-seconds or less videos are on every social media platform and are very popular to convert eyeballs into action in a short amount of time. These videos all share the same basic structure:
The content length is measured in seconds, not minutes or hours.
The first few seconds establish immediate relevancy, often with a call out “This is why X works, and will work for you too!”
Each video is broken up into scenes no longer than a few second each, and the entire payload of the message is delivered within 30 seconds
Users stay and consume short form content because they utilize one or more of the six qualities that make an idea stick (as per the New York Times Bestseller "Made to Stick" by Chip and Dan Heath). They can be simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional, or story-driven
How can we learn from YouTube Shorts to build better website content?
Building an engaging website front page, especially for mobile form factors, means we learn from why short-form video is so engaging and apply that knowledge to site building. Here’s what we learned:
You have 10 seconds to make a first impression. Capture their attention with something emotional and results-oriented.Break content down into sections that can be consumed in under 10 seconds
Visually separate your website sections, with content in each section providing no more than 10 seconds of consumable text.
Use imagery or video to break up your text to avoid overwhelming your readers
How do I know if my website is effective?
An effective website is one that holds the attention of a user from top to bottom. Once your reader, now a potential customer, has reached the bottom of your website 30 seconds into loading it, now is the time to tell them the details of your product and service. Don't forget a call to action to capture user information!
Build your site in chunks, just like you would with a 30 second TikTok
An engaging website is rarely a dissertation or a wall of text: it's engaging content presented in a way that can easily be consumed in a single short sitting. Aim to earn eyeball time 10 seconds at a time. If you're ready to build your site to be as effective as the next viral 30-second video, give us a shout!
Author
Ray Lai is a managing partner of Promentum Technologies, and has been storytelling with websites for two decades. He’s an AWS certified solutions architect, and a Shopify certified solutions partner.