During a study byUse It,researchers discovered that when it comes to visitors on your website, “the first 10 seconds of the page visit are critical for users’ decision to stay or leave.”What do those 10 seconds say about you, and how can you make those seconds count?

To make a lasting impression means you need to , “communicate your value proposition within 10 seconds.”

How do you know if your website communicates this properly? Here are a few ways you can make those seconds count.

• Have a clear, strong message – What is the first thing a viewer sees when visiting your website? If it’s outdated design, the first impression won’t be a good one. Is your logo stunning, or old and out of date as well? Make sure everything on your site is cohesive. Remember that hierarchy matters. If you try to make everything important and stand out, then nothing will stand out, and you are left with a jumbled mess.

•  Make your navigation as easy as possible – Organize the navigation in a simple and structured way. Think about the path you would like users to take. Instead of having multiple navigation tabs that say “about our staff, about our company, about our mission” try condensing it to one “about” tab.

• Relevant content – This is a big one. No one wants to go to a website and see a page that says “coming soon”.  The more relevant content you add, the better ranked you will be . Again,  hierarchy matters. Use the proper titles and subtitles. Don’t overuse bold type. If you try to make everything stand out, then nothing is going to stand out. You only want to use as many headers as the viewer can read in the first 10 seconds of visiting the site.

Take a look at your website and see if there are any areas you can improve on. Ask people who don’t know anything about your company for their thoughts. Listen to what they have to say!