While many people appreciate the functional aspect of website design, aesthetic considerations sometimes fall by the wayside. In some cases the reverse is true, with site designers doing their best to create a fantastic looking site that ends up being clunky. Obviously it is possible to make both worlds meet. Just look at any of the top sites out there – there's a yin and yang effect.
If you think you can't objectively assess your own website, whether you designed it or not, have some friends give it a test drive. Better yet, if you can afford to, have a professional website analyst give it a once-over. What you need is feedback on the general impression of the site -- how long pages take to load, ease of navigation, and so on.
Now let's assume for the moment that you designed your own site, and your research team (translated: friends and family) or professional returns a mostly negative report. What's your next step? Here are a few tips to simplify your website and make it more user friendly and attractive at the same time.
Organize Before You Design
If you are designing your own website, it's easy to make the mistake of throwing in as many things as you can without doing some planning. A picture here, some text there, and before you know it, you have pages crammed with content -- much of it almost useless. Start with pencil and paper, a word processing program such as Microsoft Word or even some graphics software. Do a rough page by page draft of what you want your website to look like. You can get ideas from your competitors' websites or any other site that you like -– trying to identify what works and what doesn't.
It's best to think through details like color before you get to the building stage. Some colors may be pretty on a wall but not on screen. It's also crucial that your website fit into your overall branding. As such, use the colors associated with your business on your website.
Take another look at your content
Yes, your content (or lack thereof) could be hurting you. If you think time is money, then your site's visitors feel exactly the same way. For them to spend time viewing your content, it must offer something of value. Even a page that is not attractive but offers useful and frequently updated content will get traffic.
If your site includes advertising, you should be aware of your ad-to-content ratio as well. Yes, you want to make money from your site. But will your visitors keep coming back just to look at ads? Will any advertiser pay to put an ad on a site that doesn't offer quality content? First work on the content, then the advertising will likely fall into place.
Watch those Graphics & Bells and Whistles
You may like animations, but don't overdo it. Overloading your site with graphics, (static or animated), runs the risk of devaluing your message. Imagine your visitor trying to read some vital information on the site and being distracted by a button because it's moving. Try to minimize the number of banner ads on each page, and try replacing animated banners with static ones. Graphics should be used not just for effect, but because they actually add something to the site.
Another distraction for website visitors is auto-playing media. The majority of Web users find this annoying, because people want to be in control of their experience on the Web. It's intrusive to play audio or video when a user hasn't explicity activated it.
Website clutter develops mainly when designers fail to keep in mind that the website is there for its users. They use tricks because they like them. But the things that you find annoying on the Web are likely to annoy others as well. Learn from the mistakes of others. Take another look at your site if you're not getting the results you want, and see if you've made any of these same mistakes. Trim where you can, but remember that the most vital aspect of your site is good content.
Now is a good time to start decluttering your website as one year ends another begins.
Tags: content, simplicity, usability, web design