Are intro pages a good idea?

An 'intro page' is a page that people see before they get to the main content of a website. It will usually feature a lot of graphics and very little text. It may also incorporate some moving elements or sound. An intro page will either automatically transfer the visitor to the main website, or ask them to click an 'enter' button or similar device. Intro pages can look great, and are often used to show off the graphic designer's skills.

Intro pages are, however, a bad idea, and are now seen less and less.

The reason for this is simply that when people go to your website they want information. They don't have time to waste being 'entertained' by some fancy graphical wizardry.

People often think of a website as if it's a brochure or a book. "Surely" they say "it must have an attractive cover to induce people to open it?" No. They have (metaphorically) already 'opened the cover' by going to your website, and they expect to get to the meat of what you have to offer instantly. The more barriers you put between your visitor and your content, the less likely you are to do business with that visitor, it's as simple as that.

Think what you do when confronted by a intro page. Do you study it, admire the creative genius and think "yes, I must do business with this company"? More likely you will search around for a 'skip intro' button and curse the web designer for wasting your valuable time. Think how you feel if you re-visit the site and have to endure the intro again and again!

Think about the big names on the internet - do Google, Amazon, eBay or the BBC have intro pages? No.

Search engines give a lot of weight to the content of your home page. Search engines cannot 'read' images, they may as well not be there, so if your home page is just images or Flash the search engines don't have anything to index. We see this time and time again with websites that get poor search engine rankings.

Yes, we will be delighted to build you a blisteringly creative intro page - but please consider the above first. The money saved on your intro page would give a much better return when invested in stunning images or first rate copywriting for your home page.