Mom used to say "Good things always come in threes." We all know three. It's rhythm is familiar, comfortable: Goldilocks and the Three Bears, three-act plays, Eat three meals a day, 1-2-3 Go!... From trinities to trilogies, we openly embrace the role the number three plays in our lives.
When it comes to web design, though, many designers overlook the power of three, opting instead to go with linking or promoting what's important once, maybe twice. By "important," I'm not referring to the main blog post or necessarily the content of a site, but the extremely important "call to action" messages. These messages tell your visitors what you want them to do when they get to your site.
During a #blogchat session this past summer, Amy Africa, founder of Eight by Eight, a web marketing consultancy, encouraged following the rule of three: "Where your “call to action” message lives on your site or blog is critical and needs to live in at least three places, so you can make the call multiple times."
She admits that in her blog, Amy Africa's Qlog, she went to extremes to show how many ways you can incorporate calls to action into your design. Ask Amy a Question," free newsletter sign-up, subscribe, free tips, and even the good, old-fashioned "contact" button are all designed to drive traffic to the next level of engagement.
Following Amy's blogchat session, Debra Ellis, founder of Wilson & Ellis Consulting, an integrated marketing solutions firm, added action and navigation buttons directing visitors to the Customer Retention Check-up form to get a quote and learn more about her company's the direct marketing services.
"There were many take-aways from Amy's session" says Ellis. "Adding more ways for customers to interact is a terrific idea. It's probably the easiest change you can make to a web site to drive results."
And, it can be as simple as 1 - 2- 3.
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