NLP Anchoring is a relatively simple practice in web development. There are quick and easy ways to connect a stimulus with a certain emotional response, and as a concept it is reminiscent of the popular Pavlov’s experiment where the conditioning stimulus alone ultimately begins to elicit an auto response from the subject.
As a stimulus that can induce various thoughts and emotions, an anchor can be an internal or external trigger like a particular way someone knocks on a door, or the scent of a particular perfume bringing up a memory.
All NLP specialists know how important it is to keep skills fresh and improve them, and here are some practical tips on how you can not only sharpen your anchoring skills, but the best way they can be applied when designing your website.
Step one: Know Your Anchors
List them
Be aware of the potential olfactory, visual, kinaesthetic and auditory anchors in your life. Also notice anchors other people use; both deliberate ones and those they use without realising it. Note the different types of anchors and qualify them, as anchors that come to play when you are at maximum attention, and those that are utilized on autopilot.
Experiment
Once you have identified these anchors, think about the possibilities of using these anchors in alternate ways by experimenting with them, such as a particular sentence in conjunction with the right kinaesthetic anchor like a pat on the back.
Stay current
Communication in the 21st century is not as basic or straightforward as it once was. With the advent of the internet and smartphones, context, platform and so many other variables influence the meaning of a word, phrase or visual, so it is imperative that you know when and what any of these anchors can represent at a any given time.
Step Two: How to Use Your Anchors
The psychology behind a superb web design may be a relatively young field of study, but the elements that make up the research are not. Colour, imagery and of course copy, are all examples of anchors and how you understand and apply them makes all the difference in the world.
Visual anchors
The first interaction any user will have with a web page is visual. Grabbing them here with the right anchors is essential to keeping them long enough to read your message. Certain colours and images are perceived with predetermined anchors such as green for ‘fresh’, and a teddy bear for ‘children’.
Your choice of colours and images may very well indicate more about what your page is about than the actual copy itself, and getting it right sets the foundation for everything else.
Keywords
The simplest and easiest application of good NLP anchoring is the use of keywords in a design. As the CEO of a top design and development agency, Brian Hong at Infintech Designs lauds the significance of working keywords into a web design:
“Keywords are necessary for every SEO campaign and will play a big role in everything from on-page SEO to link building. Knowing which keywords you should target and how to target them will determine whether your SEO strategy will produce superior results or fail miserably.”
Aesthetics
You may have grasped the significance of colours and images as visual anchors, or SEOs and keywords, but how about the layout of your design?
Aesthetics and layout are variations of visual anchors utilized in daily life by how websites are typically built and the association that escalators come in pairs; one going up another going down. So there is also a preconception of how a website’s layout is structured.
There are several ways to apply this knowledge and make sure visitors don’t get lost on your page or simply leaving out of confusion. You could also use it as a means to direct visitors towards a particular message.
When you’re ready to take that crucial step towards using NLP as a design strategy for your website, the key is to take the time to think about what your target sees and how they interpret it and you’re well on your way to creating a website that connects and communicates.
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