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When Great Web Design Benefits a Great Cause
By irenedorang | January 28, 2008
Want to see an example of a beautiful website?
Check out FreeRice.com. It’s fabulously simple, and a great example of everything that most real estate websites are not.
(There’s no whirling, search engine-blocking flash entry page, you’re not immediately greeted with a big paragraph explaining what FreeRice does, and the page doesn’t offer you a ton of options.)
What it is, is extremely effective.
They want you to play a word definition game, and for each correct answer they donate 20 free grains of rice through the United Nations to help end world hunger.
Here are a few reasons why it works so well:
- Your gaze is immediately drawn to the call to action (the game.)
- It’s completely clear how to respond (and it’s just one click.)
- You’re immediately motivated to take action (because you see the correct answer.)
- The headline tells you exactly what the site is about (which clearly states the obvious benefit.)
- The surrounding elements support the call to action (explanation links, a video of grain being donated.)
- Language is used sparingly and effectively (notice the grand total of 13 words in the left menu.)
What’s your call to action?
Are you asking people to do something on your website? Do you provide motivation by stating an obvious benefit, and make it easy for them to take action without having to navigate several clicks away?
Do you keep it simple?
It’s a natural tendency to want to embellish and make things complex, but when you do, remember that FreeRice.com launched barely 3 months ago and has already donated over 16 billion grains of rice.
I dare you to go there and not add to that number. 
Topics: Blogging & Web, Charities, Online Marketing |