Those Click-throughs Don't Mean Much

The metrics we use to measure the success of our websites are coming under attack. That's not entirely new. People have for some time have realized that the number of hits on a website is a misleading metric. A single person can generate dozens of hits in a few seconds and never read a word. Number of visits is less misleading, but nevertheless not a great indicator of whether the content was actually consumed.

Research is now showing that the situation is even worse than we thought. The average attention span of a visitor to a web page is 15 seconds. And the curve tends to bell out at the bottom.

Yet companies spend vast amounts of money on trying to make their websites interesting and attractive. They add in advertising that is designed to grab attention. One thing we know, banner ads don't work.  They aggravate. And people don't click through them to the content. There's even a name for it - banner blindness.

A recent trend in website design is being called the attention web. It focuses on new metrics that measure attention rather than clicks. On finding ways to get readers to actually consume the content. Less attention is being paid to attention grabbers - an apparent contradiction. And more attention is being paid to design, on developing quality content. These are healthy trends and should lead to better websites. For more on the attention web, check out this article.