This stat should be more than enough to tell you why you shouldn’t include sliders on your homepage. Your homepage is used for traffic and attracting potential leads. You want people to know where and what to click. Showing visitors multiple options right off the bat is just going to overwhelm them and make them want to come back to your site either later, or never.
Grabbing the viewer’s attention is extremely important. Most companies believe that if they have something on their page, such as a carousel, it will better help the viewer choose what he or she wants to look at. Wrong. Your homepage should be simple and direct. Sliders are large and show visitors numerous options, this makes it more difficult for the viewer to choose.
Sliders tend to slow down your site, resulting in less traffic and ultimately mess up your SEO. You definitely do not want your rankings to go down, so why would you even take the risk?
Web sliders push down your content taking over space that could be used to give viewers the options they originally were expecting to see. You need to give the visitors what they are looking for in order to convert them into potential leads.
Wording is limited on sliders and you can only choose one image to get your point across. If you select a picture that has no connection to the message you are trying to tell your viewers, then your slider, plain and simple, has no reason to be on your site.
It's so hard to keep people’s attention for more than a couple of seconds. If they are not interested in what is being displayed, they tune out very quickly. Carousels switch images every few seconds making it nearly impossible to keep a viewer absorbed in what you are presenting.
When people go to your site, they may not realize that the sliders are inbound links. Most probably think that it’s just a few different pictures rotating information about what you offer. Unless you make it known that visitors can click on the images, everyone will end up ignoring them.
Slides on a carousel are only available to see for a couple of seconds before they slide to the next image. A few seconds is not nearly enough for the human eye to grasp what is being presented. Once the image slides away, the viewer needs to wait until the carousel is done rotating full-circle in order to see what they were looking at from the start. This directly relates to #9…
The main reason people want sliders on their website is because they think that they “look cool.” Newsflash! They don't. People find them to be a nuisance and something that is totally irrelevant to what they are looking for.
Sliders look like advertisements because visitors are unaware that they are clickable objects that will lead them to what they may be looking for. Ads are shown in this form on different web pages, so some people may just assume that they are just images being used to promote your site.
When people go to view websites they have a goal or specific reason they are searching. Bombarding surfers with too many options is just going to cause people to be indecisive. Website designs should have one theme and one objective, showing viewers a bunch of messages isn’t enabling them to find what they are looking for.
Visitor won’t click on them because they are unaware that they can! Based on the fact from #1 that only one percent of people click on sliders should be enough information to tell you that they are a total waste of time and are not beneficial to you or your visitors in any way.
The software used when creating sliders doesn’t always work on mobile devices. Having technology readily available is super important to everyone in today’s world, so not being able to view a site that we are searching on our phone or tablet is going to be frustrating.
Web carousels consist of a bunch of random disorganized messages. The different messages usually don’t have any connection or any relevance to each other which makes the viewer wonder what they are looking at. Sliders hurt, they don't help.
Using a slider at the top of your web page, or even in the middle, is a HUGE waste of space. Web carousels aren’t helping you generate leads, so why use them? The amount of space that you could be using to gain potential leads is being used for something that is so useless. Just think of how much useful content you could include if you eliminated your slider. Your best bet is to get rid of it.
If some of you are unable to part with your carousel, then relocate it. You can keep your rotating messages, but it will no longer be the main focus. Pushing the slider down to the middle or bottom of the page will enable you to place your main content at the top of your homepage making it easier for viewers to know your objective.
We all have to agree that sliders take up way too much space. If you were to limit the slider to a certain size, and cut the content you include, then it may be acceptable. Sliders, if used, should only contain one message. Making the carousel smaller, rather than the only option on the screen, would be helpful as long as it is clear and concise.
Sliders consist of rotating pictures. Why not change the amount of pictures to ONE. Use a solid picture and message that the viewer can connect with, and that will be beneficial to what they are searching for.
Grids allow you to post a few different images with various messages. This allows the viewer to see every image from the get-go and it’s easier for them to pick and choose what they want to click on. Grids do take up some space, but their purpose is clear.
Reconsider. We have established they are confusing, misleading, annoying, distracting, disorganized, a waste of space and usually ignored. There are so many other routes that you could take in order to grab the viewer’s attention that don't include using sliders.