I’ve been talking to a lot of clients lately who really seem to have over-engineered themselves into a real mess. At the end of the day, if there is only one principle you can stick to for making your website suck less and sell more, it is this:
Keep It Simple
I see so many websites that add complexity and confusion with:
- big, intense site navigation
- lots and lots and lots (and lots) of options at every step
- flashing graphics, widgets, and wazoos
Stop the madness and get rid of all the noise, and get back to the basics.
Check Your Google Listing
Google does a really nice job of listing a simple, easy to read listing of websites and often includes subnavigation for the pages in a website used most frequently. Here are a few examples of Google entries – aren’t nice and simple?
Note: I’m not saying these websites aren’t good. I’m just saying this: look at that Google listing. Isn’t it simple, user-friendly, and most likely have everything you might need to get started right on one screen – with clear points to where I can go if I want something else not there?
Homework: Go and Google yourself. A lot of you might not have the sub-navigation links unless you have a lot of traffic or a high ranking. But picture it if you did. Compared to that visual image, is your website a disaster or is it doing the job it needs to do?
Steal This From Google Too
I’ve heard that the Google team has a founding principle for Google’s homepage: any time something is added, something already there has to go. Sounds like a pretty good rule to me. That doesn’t mean sometimes you just have to add that extra thing, but go through that thought process.
Let me know if I can help.