If you've been designing websites you've probably heard the phrase "above the fold" used. So what is "above the fold"? Above the fold simply means the area a user sees without having to scroll on their device screen. Unfortunately when someone loads your webpage not everyone knows whether they should continue to scroll to see more content. For that reason it's important you keep your critical content above the fold. This will prevent users from missing your most important content and your call to action due to a small screen size.

So what are some of the things that you should have above the fold. The answers depends on what information is most important to convey to your audience. Over the years however I have noticed there are a few things that almost all websites should keep above the fold and here they are...

1. Your headline. 

Of course this needs to be above the fold. The average person is will only wait 7 seconds for your website to load and then give you another 4 seconds to figure out whether it's relevant. So your headline should should be at the top of the page, above the fold, in big, easy to read letters.

2. Your phone number. 

For whatever reason a lot of people don't put their phone number on their website even though this seems like one of the most obvious way to connect with your customers. I suppose it originated from the idea the web would allow companies to shortcut talking to customers in person. Whatever the case the phone number should go on your homepage and people should not be required to scroll or click for that matter to find it.

3. Your call to action.

To me this is the most important thing that needs to be above the fold. Even more important than the headline. Your call to action is whatever you want a site visitor to do next. It can be a big continue button, a buy button, a link, or even a phone number. Whatever the goal of your webpage is - that should be your call to action and nobody should ever be required to scroll in order to find it.