Don’t confuse space and time.

How many times have you been told what you should put “above the fold” when creating a landing page or marketing email?It’s become my #1 annoyance with content strategy advice.Over the past 20 years, I’ve seen debates over which elements take priority, how much content can be added, whether the navigation should be removed, and where the “fold” is even located.It all misses the more important point. Time matters more than space.You have precious few seconds to capture any attention.Every second that follows is a battle to keep that attention.A decade ago, I told clients to fight like hell to earn your customers’ next 5 seconds.These days, it’s more like 1-3 seconds.Every word, design element, and image choice must advance the action you want your customer to take within those first few seconds.Benefits, testimonials, and social proof? That’s all for the increasingly rare customer who is intrigued enough to pay attention and focused enough to maintain attention, but not quite ready to…