Your company homepage is probably sending the wrong signal to users. Here are some tips to get on track.

With the best of intentions, and the finest research, many brand websites are sending mixed signals and confusing customers. In the process, a brand's message can be mangled. That's a big problem considering how difficult (and often expensive) it is to drive customers to a site in the first place.

Step one towards clarifying a website's message, according to NextStage Chief Research Officer Joseph Carrabis, is to stop thinking like a marketer.

Carrabis gave a web design talk at iMedia's brand summit in San Diego this week, and started by asking the room full of brand marketers (and a few other industry pros) what their websites were designed to do. The responses he got were standard: "make money," "earn conversions," and so on. 

Curiously, nobody said their websites were designed to build relationships, Carrabis pointed out.

With the help of some adventurous volunteers, Carrabis went on to play website doctor for Quiznos.com and Accuquote.com. Along the way, he pointed out simple improvements, rooted in common-sense principles, every brand steward should be thinking about.

To begin, slow things down
Marketers should consider what the pace of their website animation says to consumers. Rapid animation may work well for brands that provide shipping services or sports cars, but for most, a slower pace is advised. At Quiznos.com, for example, the idea is to make people hungry. But after observing the sandwich maker's site -- complete with fast-tumbling mushrooms and quick-sliding images -- Carrabis noted, "that pace is not the pace you think of food."

He suggested Quiznos slow down a bit and allow the user to "take a bite of the sandwich in their mind" before showing another image. In other words, "you’ve got to synch the conscious signal with the unconscious," he said.

Make graphics work smarter, not harder
Another way marketers can make good use of website animation is to use it as a pointer, suggested Carrabis. If the animation moves to the left, put the desired action to the left of it.

Flashy video and hot graphics, whether they're moving quickly or not, need to be relevant. One way to keep edgy images on-message is to constantly ask whether or not they are "mirroring and echoing" the site's target user, Carrabis explained. To accomplish this, marketers need to ask whether or not website images are showing familiar settings and events, or people that are similar to the target customer. According to Carrabis, "The best way to establish rapport is to provide [the audience] with mirrors and echoes." 

Don’t forget God, Satan
Placement of web elements on a page (graphics, calls to action, sign-in boxes, text messages) is important as well. To demonstrate, Carrabis turned to art history and explained the concept of the "God spot." Traditionally, God appears in the upper right of classic art pieces. By deploying site elements in this spot, explained Carrabis, marketers give these pieces greater authority. 

There's also a place in classic art for Satan. "The place where Satan goes is the upper left," said Carrabis. He also explained that animals (humans, too) look first for threats at 10 o'clock, or the upper left. So this position on web pages should be used with caution by marketers.

Clearly, there's more to think about than eye sweep, where users are most likely to see a message and other classic web design considerations. Where a message goes can say as much as the words themselves.

Despite the fact that marketers are gathered at iMedia to learn about the world's "most measurable medium," Carrabis' audience seemed moved without the use of a single statistic. 

Perhaps the most important question they're left to ponder now is where do statistics end and common sense begin when it comes to putting together a brand website?

Mario Sgambelluri is associate publisher of iMedia Communications Inc. Read full bio.