How can you use T4 content types effectively to make sure you're grabbing the attention of visitors to your website and leading them further into their user journey?
The best way to make sure your website stands out when it matters most is to regularly review the content on your pages and to understand what your visitors' needs are. Your visitors' priorities may change at different times of the year, which means that the way you present information on your pages will also change. With the UG Virtual Open Day on 26 June fast approaching, now is a good opportunity to make the most of attention-grabbing content types in T4.
The header banner is used at the top of a landing page or campaign page and can be used to display a short, catchy page title alongside an image or video. Remember that the image or video must be used to effectively capture your visitors' attention and to showcase the best of what you're promoting on your web page.
You can see an example of the header banner with video on the Blizard Institute homepage and one of the header banner with image on the Student life page.
The ribbon promo can be used anywhere on the page and has a clear call-to-action which you can use to lead your visitors on to deeper content within your website. For example, if you have state-of-the-art facilities that you want to showcase to encourage potential applicants to chose Queen Mary for their degree, this is where you can display an impressive image and link to pages that describe and showcase those facilities. Use a short, snappy title, followed by a short sentence or phrase (optional) and clear, descriptive text for the button.
You can see examples of the ribbon promo on the central UG Open Day page (top of the page) and on the Blizard Institute homepage (bottom of the page).
Cards are a good way to quickly signpost your visitors to deeper, quality content that is important to them. Make sure to use short, attention-grabbing titles, short supporting phrases (optional) and, if you are using images, that they are relevant and of suitable quality. Change the content on these cards throughout the year, depending on what you know your visitors will be looking for.
You can see examples of cards with images on the central Meet us page (top of the page) and of cards without images on the T4 Support homepage (middle of the page).
The promo block is a simple but very effective way to pull in your visitors' attention on a page with a clear, large title and call-to-action button. Use this content type anywhere on the page to clearly and quickly communicate with your visitors and to signpost them to information that they will be looking for.
You can see an example of a promo block on the central UG Applying page.
Don't forget the bottom of the page! On the deeper, text-rich and informative pages of your website, provide your visitors with a way of continuing on their journey with related links. You can use attention-grabbing images and titles to achieve this, and a short, descriptive sentence (optional).
You can see examples of related links cards at the bottom of the central UG Applying page.
If you haven't used these content types before, or are struggling to remember how to, see our guide to using content types on T4. If you're struggling to find a suitable image or video to use with these content types, have a look through our Flickr library and YouTube channel.