Gone Before They Even Get To You....

A splash screen is the name given to the first page of some web sites. These pages appear to be little else but the name of the company or perhaps some sort of introductory animation. There is usually the "Enter Here" link to skip past the splash page and go to the site.

Web pages that use these screens are losing visitors. If your web page has a splash screen, you should seriously consider getting rid of it. It is hard enough attracting visitors to your site without losing them for an avoidable reason.

When Someone Visits, the Clock is Ticking

You need to realize that most people's internet attention span is somewhere between 7 and 10 seconds. Those first few seconds are absolutely CRITICAL.

If you don't get their attention interest and attention immediately... click. They're gone.

A majority of people connected to the internet are still doing so with slow dial up accounts. They don't want to wait for your splash screen to load. Click. They're gone.

Even if they do have a fast connection, who wants to sit through a pretty useless animation? Click. I'm gone.

What are you trying to accomplish?

Take a moment and consider what it is you want when someone visits your site.

If you are looking to impress them with some flash animation or your logo, then perhaps you should keep your splash screen.

Most likely this is not your intent however. You are probably in business to sell a product or service.

Did You Ever See That Successful Amazon.com Splash Screen?

What's that? You didn't see Amazon.com's splash screen?

There's a good reason for it. You are not going to go to amazon.com, cnn.com or microsoft.com and see some page that is going to distract you from their content.

Believe me. If splash screens worked, you would see the successful sites using them.

Always pay attention to successful sites.

The Bottom Line

Your site's focus is to convert as many visitors into customers as possible..

A splash screen does not accomplish this for you.