Splash or "Intro" pages

A splash page is a page that is displayed when visitors first go to your website. Splash pages are also called "enter pages", or "gateway pages". They often contain a Flash animation or an image. The visitor then clicks on a link, button or image to go through to your main website.

Splash pages can be fun. But they can have negative effects on the usability as well as the returning traffic for your website. Studies have shown that over 25% of all visitors turn away from splash pages and never actually enter the main site.

The most obvious problem when using a splash page is if animations or images are too large and take too long to load. The average attention span for a web surfer is measured in seconds, and many people won't wait for large images or animations to load before they decide to leave the page.

A "skip intro" button is a good idea, but not all visitors will see the button or link and some might become confused or frustrated. If you are using a splash page, it is very important to include a direct link to the main page somewhere on the splash page that is clearly visible.

The above issues assume that the visitor has found your page. As splash pages generally do not contain a lot of content, most search engines will have little or nothing to index. Google will sometimes ignore your website if you are using a splash page as they can be misleading. By using splash pages, your website could be very difficult to locate in a web search.

Some people view websites as a brochure, and they feel that as a brochure always has a cover, so should their website. To these people we would say that when visitors go to your website they have already decided to "open the cover".

Others view a website as a billboard advert. With a billboard you have to get people's attention while they are engaged in some other activity such as boarding a train or driving to work. When people visit your website you already have their attention, what they want are the details of what you have to offer.

Whether you have a splash page is entirely up to you, but you should consider the above before making a decision.