Why a Good Header is so Important

First impressions are important - when you first see a city you’ve never been before, what do you notice? That’s right, the skyline. Similarly, the first thing you see in the newspaper is the headline and whenever you think of a TV show, you most likely think of the opening credits.

Everyone makes snap judgments about things based on this kind of first impression. Websites are no exception; what you see first on a website is the header at the top of the page.

Though it isn’t usually a functional part of the site, the header of a web page is one of the most important parts. With a porfessional and engaging looking header on a web page, visitors to that site will want to stay because they will have been assured that if the header is up to a certain level of excellence, then the content they’ll read there will be too.

While this may or may not be true, it is what the reader will assume from seeing a well designed header. This reassurance will benefit you in that the visitors to your site will not only stay to read your content during that initial visit, but will also return for future visits and hopefully recommend you to others and possibly link to you as well.

While both of these elements are important, the second is critical. A good header can help your site stand apart form the hundreds, even thousands of other websites which are similar to yours, all in competition for a slice of web traffic.

Each of these functions are greatly important, but the second may be even more important than the first. There are millions of websites out there and possibly hundreds or thousands compete with yours. If the style or make-up of your header gives your website the look that it lacks quality or professionalism, your traffic will go to your competitors instead.

It is hard to underestimate the value of a well designed and well planned out graphic header. You may not even notice the effects of a good header on your website.

Keeping visitors coming back and staying on your site longer is something which you can ascribe to many factors: content, better search engine rankings, new features and the like. However, in many cases it is your header which is doing all of this work: out in the open, yet behind the scenes.