Consumer Web Behavior

A study using eye-tracking equipment by Nielsen Norman Group of 230 consumers, sheds some interesting light on how people tend to use the internet. (Yahoo News article)

• Individuals read Web pages in an “F” pattern. They’re more inclined to read longer sentences at the top of a page and less and less as they scroll down. That makes the first two words of a sentence very important.
• Surfers connect well with images of people looking directly at them. It helps if the person in the photo is attractive, but not too good looking.
• Images in the middle of a page can present an obstacle course.
• People respond to pictures that provide useful information, not just decoration.
• Consumers will peek at ads in search engines as a “secondary thing,” Nielsen says, since they usually have specific product targets in mind.

Jakob Nielsen (a principal at the firm), also has an article on growing a business website.

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