In a previous blog I talked about promise and fulfillment and I thought because it was so important to the user experience we should talk about it in a bit more detail.

When a person is searching it is usually for a reason, they want something to  make their better, easier, more prosperous easier or to take away some pain they have got. Usually most surfers will start by using a search engine (probably Google!).

The promise

The search results are options for the surfer and every result is one that he could click on. What appears in these search results are assolutely pivotal to the success of any website. Most website owners would be absolutely flawed to know that what appears here is the first and only chance that they have to get these surfers to open their site. But, what’s more every website owner has the ability to manage and control what appears in this introduction.

The search results are comprised of two elements:

• The Title tag
• The Description tag

In the search engine results the title tag will appear at the top and will be the hyperlink that will take the surfer to your site. The description tag will be the two lines that appear beneath. These threee lines are going to be the first contact a surfer (and someone who is actually looking for what you sell).

If you are going to use these two tags well, you’ve actually got to think carefully about how you use them. They actually have to be a total and tantalising summary of what a person will see if they click on your link.

I believe these two tags actually have to be a promise and create an expectation. If a surfer click on this link they will be under no illusion about what they will see when your site opens.

Fulfillment

Fulfillment should be realised when a vistitor, who has clicked on your search engine link arrives at your website. Their expectation should be immediately met.

Unfortunately most people who click on a search engine link do so out of desperation and are only hoping that their expectation can be met, because in most cases they are not. In many cases there is a total mismatch between what appears in a search engine listing and the content of the page. The the cases where there is a match,  the adrenilen of the visitor is not pumping, simply because both the title and description tags have been poorly written.

You don’t have to be good to be the best

For many website owners this will be put straight in the too-hard basket because they think it is too hard to do. Let me tell you straight, you are either lazy or just don’t understand that just about any change you do that sharpens up your title and description tags (as long as you remember to keep your keywords in tact) will lift the click through rate of your pages. By creating interesting descriptions that grab the attention of your market, you will obtain a higher click-thru rate than your competitors.