If you know nothing else about Comic-Con, you should know that its fanboy attendees are some of the most ardent followers of anything ever.  San Diego’s four-day fiesta is the annual nerve center for all things sci-fi, fantasy, gaming, and related pop-culture genres.  It’s a real hoot.

Out of the ridiculous number of things to do at Comic-Con, some of the most anticipated events are the exclusive, convention-eyes-only movie previews.  Especially for heavyweight franchises from studios like Marvel and Lucasfilm, the eruption of applause afterwards can be deafening.  Sure, it’s the natural culmination for super fans who waited hours in line for a three-minute sneak peek.  Excitement for the panel with the movies’ stars afterward also factors in.

It’s also because they’re just good.

The people who create these are master storytellers.  They have to boil hours of action-packed footage down to a few minutes.  As journalist Hugh Hart aptly states, trailer editors must “exercise brutal efficiency” in creating a mini-movie that convinces people to wait in yet another line and throw down $15 for the feature-length film.

The same holds true for your company’s website.  In a very real sense, your website is your trailer.  It’s the first place most people go to determine whether you’re worth further investment of time and money.

This is a bigger deal than some businesses realize.  Two-thirds of buyers’ research is digital prior to speaking with you (if you make the short list).  Then you have 46% who won’t make it past your home page if the offer isn’t clear.  That means half of all prospects already actively seeking the services you provide are one click away from never coming back.  Cue Darth Vader theme.

Don’t get discouraged.  All you need to do is boil down your value proposition, services, and overall story into essentially a digital brochure.  Easier said than done, I get it.  You have an amazing business and could go on about it for days.  Picking and choosing what to include and what to hold in reserve for your actual sales pitches can be a tough exercise.

For the best results, approach it the same way studios approach their Comic-Con trailers.  You need to provide the elements your core audience expects.  Give them a sense of what your business is about, the solution you provide, and why they should take the next step by engaging you directly.

The following guidelines will help turn your corporate site into your company’s own cinematic teaser.

Capture Attention Quickly

As we’ve established, people are only too ready to hit the Back button if they’re not engaged right away.  Visitors should know who you are, what you do, and whom you serve out of the gates.  If your website is your company’s trailer, your home page is your trailer’s trailer.  It should include just enough of the right information to entice them to keep clicking through.

Keep It Moving

Trailers don’t dwell on any one scene.  Their perpetual-motion snippets keep things punchy and fluid.  If you want prospects to continue navigating from page to page, don’t bog them down with detail that really isn’t necessary at that stage.  Again, it’s all about a taste of what’s to come, not the full buffet.

Avoid Overwhelming Them

Yes, there’s a lot going on in most movie trailers (especially if Michael Bay’s involved).  But, good ones use discretion in what they feature.  Compelling snapshots that offer broad strokes of the plot and main players are all they need to hook you.  So, when it comes to your aesthetics, avoid enormous chunks of text and heavy doses of industry jargon.  Crisp, highly-visual content is always preferable regardless of industry.

Make It Easy to Follow

Ever thought to yourself after a particularly confusing trailer, “What the hell just happened?”  Needless to say, that’s what you don’t want to have happen as someone’s surfing your site.  Make sure your pages are easily navigable and contain relevant deets.  If you’ve got a thousand dropdowns in your nav bar that lead to pages with vague headlines and murky content, the next stop is Google.

Include Frequent Calls to Action

Marvel literally could have flashed the words “Infinity War” against a blank screen as its trailer and MCU fans would have thrown their wallets at the nearest box office.  Maybe your company’s a guaranteed blockbuster, too.  Even if not, some buyers are simply ready to go after minimal research.  Make it easy for people to get in touch right away by including contact CTA buttons early and often.

Obviously, a lot more goes into pristine sites than these five areas.  These are great initial guardrails for the content, though.  Plus, it gives you a valid excuse to head to San Diego for some “R&D” on the company dime.

Just don’t forget your cape.

Need a hand figuring out how to downsize your dot-com “trailer” in ways that don’t lose key details or messages?  I’m here to help you make the hard decisions about what to shear and what to shed.