For most of us – when we hear the beginning of a joke – we gotta know the punchline.

Consider us hooked, right?

Now I’m gonna finish this joke in just a second (don’t worry it’s a good clean one) but first…

We need to talk about what all this has to do with your website.

Because there’s one particular section that – if you screw it up – you can say goodbye to your leads, conversions, & sales.

Of course I’m talking about the Above-the-Fold section. (The very top portion of your site that’s visible when the site first loads.)

We've been misled...

You’ve been told (and I don’t disagree) that the Above-the-Fold section is the most important part of any website.

Unfortunately you’ve also been told that people these days have the 8-second attention span of goldfish.

Sadly, these two pieces of information combine to make it sound like:

“I only have 8 seconds to tell my site visitor ALL THE THINGS before they bail out. PANIC!!!”

And so we stuff EVERYTHING into the top of our website like a game of Tetris:

→ “Add two more headlines!”

→ “Squeeze in that testimonial!”

→ “Quick! Throw in another button!”

→ “Ooh and we gotta use this meme!”

→ “WHERE ARE MY TRUST BADGES?!”

And poof! There go your sales. Why though?

Because all this crap jammed into the top of your site is distracting. Overwhelming. There’s too many messages and too much input all at once. Your customer can’t process it.

(Kinda like starting 5 different jokes all at the same time.)

Luckily there’s a happy plot twist. One that was true years ago and is even more true now in 2025:

Your website visitors are not afraid to scroll.

Years and years of web usability studies tell us that everybody scrolls all the time. But only if you can hold their attention.

So your Above-the-Fold section does not need ALL the important stuff

It just needs one thing:

One. Good. Hook.

That’s it.

If you hook people (and keep 'em hooked) they’ll come along for the ride as long as you want. You’ll have plenty of time to show them all the important information.

So breathe. Give your website space. Let it flow. One bit at a time.

Now I am not that great at jokes. But I’m amazing at getting sites to convert better and I can tell you:

Every single time I’ve simplified a client website and removed distractions, it has improved their leads, sign-ups, and/or revenue. 100% of the time.

Try it out and you’ll see what I mean.

If you don’t know how do it or what to look for…get in touch. Happy to help.

Yours in conversions,

Charlie

P.S. You scrolled to read this postscript, didn’t you? See? Scrolling isn’t so bad after all! 😉

P.P.S. Oh yeah…the joke! Where were we?

So an apple walks into a bar…

Bartender asks, “What’ll you have?”

Apple says, “Just a glass of milk please.”

Bartender says, “Milk?! What’re you some kind of sissy?”

Apple: “Well I once had an uncle with a drinking problem. Had too much one night and tried to walk home. Next morning they found him on the side of the road. Just a puddle of applesauce.”

P.P.P.S. If you know someone who appreciates simple-but-effective business and good apple jokes, I'd be honored if you forward this to them.