Above The E-Fold™

Above the fold (From Wikipedia):

Above the fold is the upper half of the front page of a newspaper where an important news story or photograph is often located. Papers are often displayed to customers folded so that only the top half of the front page is visible. Thus, an item that is “above the fold” may be one that the editors feel will entice people to buy the paper. Alternatively, it reflects a decision, on the part of the editors, that the article is one of the day’s most important.

Have you ever thought of your website in term such as these? What do you display “above the fold”? The conventional advice, when it comes to attracting new clients from your website, is that they should instantly find something that interests them when they first open your website, or else they will move on to the next site. Think of this as “Above The E-Fold”.

I look at a lot of websites on a daily basis, ones that pertain to bodywork, as well as a lot of others. Some blow me away, both with content as well as visual attraction. Others…well, I just move on. I need to find something that attracts me as soon as I open a page. In the case of manual therapists, I need to see a reason to visit you. I DO NOT CARE what you do, I care about what you can do for me. I DO NOT CARE what about your modality of choice, who trained you, what school from which you graduated, the fact that you are an avid runner, or that you are a vegetarian. I care to know if you can help my pain, for instance. The information above the fold should address this with no ambiguity at all. Save everything else for later. Grab my attention first, then elaborate on that. Why should I come to see you and only you?

While I’ve been writing this post, I went to my own private practice’s website to evaluate my own performance. While my above the fold information was there, I realized it needed a bit of tweaking. I moved the photo down and edited the text a bit so that my message was clear: Is pain keeping you from enjoying life? That is my catch phrase. I treat pain and I am very good at it. End of message.

What is your strength as a therapist? How well do you convey this message above the fold on your website? Remember, different browsers often display things differently, so always download and open as many as possible, to assure that your message is clear on all of them. If your above the e-fold message is not crystal clear, change it.

For Now,

Walt Fritz

Foundations in Myofascial Release Seminars

All information, unless otherwise noted, property of Walt Fritz, PT, 2014.

Author: Walt Fritz

As a former graphic designer and web designer/manager, now a massage therapist, I’d like to add that “above the fold” on a computer monitor can vary depending on screen resolution. According to gs.StatCounter.com (their global stats) currently the most common screen resolution is 1366 x 768 pixels, at about 29% of the online population (smaller sets of users use larger screens). The important number there is 768 pixels high. Removing at least 100 px to account for browser tabs, you could assume approximately 650 px would be above the fold for the average reader. That number will increase over time as technology advances and desktop users buy higher-resolution screens.

Conversely, one must also take into account tablet and phone viewers which have much smaller screen resolutions. More and more people are using smaller devices to browse the web and search for businesses, so it’s also important to optimize your web site to work on these devices. Forcing your users to try to zoom in on and scroll around to read tiny text on a non-optimized web site is what designers call a “barrier to entry.” That means if your site is hard to read on a small device, the user may very well click through to another business rather than bothering to consider yours. People skim web sites, they don’t generally *read* unless there’s detailed information they really, really want, so make sure what’s above the fold on small devices works for your visitors as well.

My web site uses WordPress (as I note does yours, Walt) and both of them work well on an iPhone (what I have), but note that not all WordPress sites offer “Responsive Design” right in the template options. True responsive design is what the business owner wants when creating their web site, so it works smoothly for as many users as possible. So if you have someone building or redesigning your business a web site, be sure it’s going to be truly responsive, from phone to tablet to desktop.

5 Responses to Above The E-Fold™

Marlene Mayman says:

February 15, 2014 at 4:07 pm

As a former graphic designer and web designer/manager, now a massage therapist, I’d like to add that “above the fold” on a computer monitor can vary depending on screen resolution. According to gs.StatCounter.com (their global stats) currently the most common screen resolution is 1366 x 768 pixels, at about 29% of the online population (smaller sets of users use larger screens). The important number there is 768 pixels high. Removing at least 100 px to account for browser tabs, you could assume approximately 650 px would be above the fold for the average reader. That number will increase over time as technology advances and desktop users buy higher-resolution screens.

Conversely, one must also take into account tablet and phone viewers which have much smaller screen resolutions. More and more people are using smaller devices to browse the web and search for businesses, so it’s also important to optimize your web site to work on these devices. Forcing your users to try to zoom in on and scroll around to read tiny text on a non-optimized web site is what designers call a “barrier to entry.” That means if your site is hard to read on a small device, the user may very well click through to another business rather than bothering to consider yours. People skim web sites, they don’t generally *read* unless there’s detailed information they really, really want, so make sure what’s above the fold on small devices works for your visitors as well.

My web site uses WordPress (as I note does yours, Walt) and both of them work well on an iPhone (what I have), but note that not all WordPress sites offer “Responsive Design” right in the template options. True responsive design is what the business owner wants when creating their web site, so it works smoothly for as many users as possible. So if you have someone building or redesigning your business a web site, be sure it’s going to be truly responsive, from phone to tablet to desktop.
- Walt Fritz says:
  
  February 15, 2014 at 4:27 pm
  
  Thanks, Marlene. Great advice and a great website!
  
  Check out Marlene’s website for a great Above the E-Fold example: http://frederickmassagetherapy.com/
  - Marlene Mayman says:
    
    February 15, 2014 at 6:42 pm
    
    Glad to help and thanks for the link, Walt!
How can you change client expectation in order to be most effective? says:

February 11, 2015 at 6:37 pm

[…] 1. I am a strong advocate of having a website to allow potential clients to find you and learn about you and your practice/goals. I began my do-it-yourself website in 2005 and allowed it to develop over the course of a few years. In 2010 I paid a website designer to craft me a more professional looking site that links together my private practice, my seminars, and my blog. My website begins to lay out the expectations for my clients, whether they are interested in becoming a client or interested in taking one of my seminars. If you don’t have a website, get one, even if it a free one-page site provided by the various professional organizations. Your website’s message should not be about what modalities you use or who you trained with; it should be about what you can do for a client. My original website was a painful attempt at trying to convert the masses into believing that MFR was the greatest modality out there, and I went into great detail discussing why I thought it was so, including old worn out explanations of how fascia is the primary culprit responsible for most pain. People don’t care about this. Most, including myself, are somewhat selfish. I care about what you can do for me, not how you will go about doing it. I care that if I have a problem, you are the person to see for this problem. Later, I may ask about how you go about doing this (the modality), but not at the onset. If I cannot find out what you can do for me in the first few seconds of reading your website, I will move on to the next person’s website. What is seen when they first land on your website is key. For more information on this, please check out a post I made titled Above The E-Fold™. […]
How Can You Change Client Expectations In Order To Be Most Effective? « The Massage Therapist Development Centre says:

May 30, 2017 at 1:17 pm

[…] Most, including myself, are somewhat selfish. I care about what you can do for me, not how you will go about doing it. I care that if I have a problem, you are the person to see for this problem. Later, I may ask about how you go about doing this (the modality), but not at the onset. If I cannot find out what you can do for me in the first few seconds of reading your website, I will move on to the next person’s website. What is seen when they first land on your website is key. For more information on this, please check out a post I made titled Above The E-Fold™. […]