“I want a website design that is messy and confusing,” said no one…ever.
You’re thinking about a new website. What do you want? If I have heard anything consistently over the hundreds of website conversations that I've had with business owners and marketers, it’s one form of this statement: We want our website to be clean, simple, and for it to be easy for people to find what they want. Nothing is easier to say and harder to accomplish than this goal, and it must be done!
Clean. Simple. The words roll off the tongue. Yet, these words mean something different to everyone who says them. Just like beauty, clean and simple is in the eye of the beholder and will vary greatly from business to business and industry to industry. Clean and simple for a high-end retail clothing seller will be a very different look than clean and simple for a manufacturing or distribution business.
Good website design begins with simple strategy.
The key to creating a clean and simple design is to be able to accurately answer very specific and strategic questions and then to make design decisions based on those answers. These questions must take you through an exercise that clearly identifies your target market(s)—down to specific details. Ideally you’ll end up with a profile that can describe your market as an individual person or as a specific type of business. A simple and clean understanding of your target market will help your design to be likewise. You’ll need to resist the temptation to say, “Well, everyone is our target market!”
Good website design begins with clean business goals.
I want my website to be easy for people to find what they want.
Having your website content organized and written in such a way that it is “easy for people to find what they want,” holds its own set of challenges: particularly prioritizing content and crafting language. Part of the solution, again, is in asking the right questions. What products or services do you want to grow? What are the core services/products of your business? What generates revenue and does that need to change? Once you know the answers to these questions, you can make decisions about prioritizing the structure and layout of your website to simplify your customer’s experience. What is more, you’ll need to carefully create content that is customer/client friendly. Industry terminology and business jargon that is used casually among your employees and business leaders may serve only to confuse your prospective clients. What are the common names and phrases that your prospective clients would use to talk about your solutions, and are these different than the language on your website?
You can have a simple, clean, and easy to navigate website IF you are willing to do the thinking and planning behind your business. Clarify your goals and strategy, and then let those guide the design of your website—clean and simple.
Need a hand with the process of connecting your business goals and priorities to your website design? Have some ideas to share? Comment below or Contact me now.
