I’m a web designer, and yes, I love edgy, unique designs. Sometimes. It depends on the website, and the intention. This blog post is not about those types of websites, sorry. It’s about keeping it simple and gaining more customers.

I mean, come on, life’s getting too complicated these days, it’s time to start simplifying. Especially if your goal is to get a lot of traffic to your website and better yet, transform those visitors into customers and money!  If someone visits your website and can’t find everything because it’s so cluttered, they will be likely to leave and not come back. No matter what your website is trying to convey.

So the key is: no more information overload! Take a step back, only include truly necessary information, and help your visitors find what they’re looking for quickly and easily.

Now don’t just take my word for it, even J.D. Power is agreeing with me. Check out their article on Usability and Auto Websites. High ranking auto websites feature clear, easy to access information for their visitors, such as Honda. The edgy sites fare much lower – why? Because they seem to be putting brand marketing ahead of their shopper’s needs. Streaming music, interactive backgrounds, confusing navigation – yes – an avante-garde designer’s dream, but for attracting business – a big no-no. These will ultimately distract your visitors and may entertain them, but see how many actually stick around to bring you business.

We all want to be unique and stand out from the internet crowd. And we all know how difficult that is to do. But maybe that’s because we shouldn’t be trying so hard. I’ll no doubt be posting another article at some point showcasing websites with all the bells and whistles that completely deviate from the norm, but I guarantee these won’t be created for customers or shoppers, but more for the designers to showcase themselves. And that’s how it should be.

Ok, I think you have the gist of it now, so I’ll leave you with one of my all-time favorite web design quotes:

“Only when the design fails does it draw attention to itself; when it succeeds, it’s invisible.”

Don’t be like this guy! If you need a website that performs, contact me.