Fortunately, the answer is often simple. Newspapers have long known that anything "above the fold" gets far more reader attention than articles "below the fold." When an important story gets placed below the fold on the front page, it is considered a slap in the face. The editor doesn't think the topic is important or doesn't want to offend an important advertiser by giving the
story a more noticed position.
Web sites work much the same. The top of your opening page gets by far the most attention. A headline will always get more attention than plain copy. I find that if I list five small linked headlines at the top of my opening page, visitors click the links in the order they appear from top to bottom.
This presents a problem for sites that have a doorway page visitors see first. Doorway pages generally include only a logo and graphic. A number of sites are now including a few links to their most important pages on the doorway page. This insures those important products and service are right up front, seen from the first moment the reader clicks to the site.
