Marketing Mishaps: Just because your WordPress site can have lots of boxes doesn't mean it should!
There's no arguing that the world we live in today is a lot more complex than it was 30 years ago. Information flies at us from all directions, and is available to us from every corner at every second of the day and night. As a result, we're getting better at processing that seemingly unstoppable flow of data. Sometimes, though, more options are NOT better.
I just had a pretty typical experience of following a tweet to a site that looked promising ... until I got to the site:
It looks pretty, right? But this is the site of a self-proclaimed branding company whose brand says only one thing to me: TOO BUSY to be focused.
You've no doubt heard about making a good first impression when you meet someone. Well, the exact same thing is true of your Web site or blog. You have literally about 3 seconds before that coveted brand new visitor decides whether to stay and explore, or chooses to hit the back button or the little X that closes your tab forever. If you want them to stay, your site has got to have a natural navigation and symmetry to it.
The problem with the site above is that there are WAY too many options. Where are you supposed to go first? The giant picture? Great. You tab through 5 or 6 images. What then?
When it comes to Web design, we sometimes get caught up in this idea that if we offer sooooo much good stuff in one place, our unique visitors will want to stay and check it all out. Wrong. They're not going to check anything out without a reason — and a natural pathway to guide them from section/option to section/option.
Think about the times you've followed a tweet to a blog post. One post, one topic. If you read the first paragraph and liked it, you probably kept reading. If you didn't like it, you left. But you lingered long enough to let the content do the persuading — it wasn't the layout of the site that sent you packing.
Simple isn't boring. Sometimes, it's more useful than we realize.
____________
We invite you to do 2 things next:
There's no arguing that the world we live in today is a lot more complex than it was 30 years ago. Information flies at us from all directions, and is available to us from every corner at every second of the day and night. As a result, we're getting better at processing that seemingly unstoppable flow of data. Sometimes, though, more options are NOT better.
I just had a pretty typical experience of following a tweet to a site that looked promising ... until I got to the site:
It looks pretty, right? But this is the site of a self-proclaimed branding company whose brand says only one thing to me: TOO BUSY to be focused.
You've no doubt heard about making a good first impression when you meet someone. Well, the exact same thing is true of your Web site or blog. You have literally about 3 seconds before that coveted brand new visitor decides whether to stay and explore, or chooses to hit the back button or the little X that closes your tab forever. If you want them to stay, your site has got to have a natural navigation and symmetry to it.
The problem with the site above is that there are WAY too many options. Where are you supposed to go first? The giant picture? Great. You tab through 5 or 6 images. What then?
When it comes to Web design, we sometimes get caught up in this idea that if we offer sooooo much good stuff in one place, our unique visitors will want to stay and check it all out. Wrong. They're not going to check anything out without a reason — and a natural pathway to guide them from section/option to section/option.
Think about the times you've followed a tweet to a blog post. One post, one topic. If you read the first paragraph and liked it, you probably kept reading. If you didn't like it, you left. But you lingered long enough to let the content do the persuading — it wasn't the layout of the site that sent you packing.
Simple isn't boring. Sometimes, it's more useful than we realize.
____________
We invite you to do 2 things next:
- Visit our Web site to download your free Website Design Worksheet.
- Visit our Facebook page — and "Like" it if you like it.
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