One "first" page or two? Scroll vs click?

[Carson]

Hi
My site www.speech-check.com currently has a short 1st page with a tease to get people to continue on in the site. I did this because I heard that you want your whole first page to show up on the screen as a whole as "people" don't like to scroll down. Now I heard the exact opposite that "people" would rather scroll down than click on a link to continue. What do you think??
Thanks for your opinion.
Carson

[Heidi]

For your website I don't think it matters. I have to scroll down to see the whole page. I would think, with the type of people visiting your site, that they would want to continue on to the next page to get more information.

Just my thoughts....

[roban]

Why doesn't your site fit the whole page side to side? My resolution is 1024 x 768 and I have to scroll top to bottom. I wouldn't bother 'teasing' anyone, get as much relevant content as you can on the page. Notice the word 'relevant'.

In the SEO game, opinions are like a_ _holes. Everybody has one. Even me!

[The Old Sarge]

I don't mind the scroll but I think you should make sure something of your content overlaps the bottom of the opening screen ... just to make sure visitors notice there is something below the fold.

Also, I'd make my widths all percentages and center the page content. That way it fits all window sizes without horizontal scrolls.

[JPnyc]

Personally unless the page is ponderously long, I think most would prefer scrolling to clicking. You have to remember that some users are still not on broadband and it's definitely faster to scroll than to click for those users.

[diggin4it]

I've actually had the same thoughts for one of my sites. I think one of the problems is though (and correct me if I'm wrong), is that Google seems to want more text on a home page. It is has many inbound links saying this is the page to find info about "whatever" and then goes to the page and finds nothing I think the SERPs results suffer

[The Old Sarge]

I think you're right about Google and page text. But I also think you still need to make your page for your customer/visitor ... not just Google.