What is the first thing a someone looks for when they first arrive to your website? Is it the graphics? Photos? Call to action buttons? No… headlines are the first thing a visitor sees when they arrive.

Eye tracking studies done in 2004 (Eyetrack III) show that a visitor will first look at dominant headlines before they begin viewing pictures. This is especially true when the headlines are in the upper left or upper right quadrant of the web page. People first look for headline text and then will move to photos.

A 2009 eye tracking study done by James Breeze showed eyes first went to text and then quickly went images of people’s faces. Faces are a powerful draw for the eyes. People seem to instinctively focus on people’s faces after briefly scanning dominant text. People will spend a greater amount of time looking at the eyes of the person in the photo.

Photos emphasize: Another result of 2009 study was that people tend to follow the gaze of the photo. Increase the visibility of a call to action or key text by having a photo of a person looking toward it. This will cause visitors to take notice of something their eyes may normally gloss over.

Short Headlines: When ready headlines, people tend to read only the first few words. It is better to use short headlines or make the first few words carry the general meaning of the headline. Try to make your headline grab attention in one second or less.

Short paragraphs: Short paragraphs encourage reading while long paragraphs tend to be skipped or just the first few words are read.