Do users care about taglines/descriptions?

Question

Up until now, I've been thinking of adding a tagline to my blog, just beside the logo. I thought it would be a great way to introduce new visitors to my site by giving them a small description of it, since my About page is down in the footer. Something along the lines : "Funny videos around the Web", "A directory of wonderful things" or "Simple Productivity".

The reason I want to add a tagline is not for branding purposes, but because I'm afraid new users will feel puzzled if there's not a small description at the top, "What am I supposed to find here?".

However, I've noticed that most sites nowadays do not have a tagline in their design (apart from the one in the meta title). It makes me wonder why. Is it because the users tend to ignore it? The content alone is enough for the users to understand what the blog is about? The usage of space is not worth it?

Answer 1

Most popular websites are already recognizable by users. Taglines would be less important in those situations.

If you have a rather obscure blogs that most people are likely to just have stumbled through, a short description will help them quickly decide whether to look further into your site. The content of a single page rarely reflects the overall theme of the site and that's where taglines could help.

Answer 2

I would not say tag lines are useless or obsolete. However you can accomplish so much with name, logo, great design, color scheme, and so on. To me all of those things assist in replacing tag lines.

Answer 3

If it's clear to users what the site is about by just looking above the fold, a tagline definitely isn't necessary. Though there's no reason you should go for one if you think it'll make things more clear. Besides, if it's catchy, it'll help users remember your site and what's it about afterwards.

Most websites that drop the tagline these days are also quite well known and just don't need any explaining.

Answer 4

Several blogs on the web are still doing well without a tagline. This doesn't mean you disregard it. When you are starting a new blog, you should leave no stone unturned when it comes to conveying your brand message to your fans. The next thing, as you had mentioned the tagline would really help users stuck with what to do and where to go queries. Also, keyword optimized taglines might improve your SE rankings. I would say- have a tagline but not over optimized one.