Fresh mint

Skipping the First

Another mint inspired observation…

Our website’s projects page highlights our latest website launches in a Flash slideshow. By design, the very latest launch is displayed first. Additionally, there is a simple HTML list of latest launches – in nearly the same order as our Flash portfolio.

When I look at this page, I make an assumption – that visitors are going to click on the top link – the latest and greatest of our portfolio. We are guiding them, with multiple links and a slideshow, to this site. However a quarter of our visitors are skipping the top listed website and going straight for site number two. Why is this?

When I begin a search, say on Google or Yahoo!, I consistently skip the first result. My assumption is that the first results are paid for (or at the very least optimized) and therefore more of an add, less of real content (if any of this sounds interesting in the least, take a look at John Battell’s The Search).

Is this skip the top phenomenon bleeding into interactions with other modes of information online? Are we learning to assume that any top of the list item is to be skipped?

Kandace Brigleb

Producer, co-founder of Needmore. Currently residing on the left coast.