When you visit a new town where you haven’t been before, you no doubt notice the skyline first - sort of a “calling card” for the city, yes? And when you look at the newspaper, what do you notice first? The headline, of course. And think of your favorite TV show - I bet you’re thinking of the opening credits.

Everyone makes snap judgments about things based on this kind of first impression. Websites are no exception; what you see first on a website is the header at the top of the page.

Though it isn’t usually a functional part of the site, the header of a web page is one of the most important parts. With a porfessional and engaging looking header on a web page, visitors to that site will want to stay because they will have been assured that if the header is up to a certain level of excellence, then the content they’ll read there will be too.

While this may or may not be true, it is what the reader will assume from seeing a well designed header. This reassurance will benefit you in that the visitors to your site will not only stay to read your content during that initial visit, but will also return for future visits and hopefully recommend you to others and possibly link to you as well.

As you can see, the header does two very important things. Your visitors can get a quick idea of what kind of content your site offers, as well as giving a sort of gauge of the quality of your website overall.

Each of these functions are greatly important, but the second may be even more important than the first. There are millions of websites out there and possibly hundreds or thousands compete with yours. If the style or make-up of your header gives your website the look that it lacks quality or professionalism, your traffic will go to your competitors instead.

It is hard to underestimate the value of a well designed and well planned out graphic header. You may not even notice the effects of a good header on your website.

The fact that visitors stick around longer and come back more often will probably be chalked up to your content or another feature you’ve implemented on your site.