Simplify Your Website and Stop Losing Customers (Author: Roy Bowers)

Existing or potential customers who visit your website are on a mission. They want to complete a specific task or gather specific information. If your website helps them achieve their goal you may keep them, if your website hinders, confuses or frustrates them: you will lose them. Steps to improve your success rate.

a. Clarify your objective. What do you want your website to achieve? Many companies only need a sophisticated online business card that is a credibility check for someone before they call you. You may not need to sell online, but just support other activities.

b. Clarify your audience. Who will use your site? Think about the time available and skills of your audience. An office worker in front of a computer all day will use a site differently to a farmer who may connect once a week.

c. Clarify key tasks. What do you think people will want to do on your site? What are their needs? Depending on the ? visitors want to do things such as check product information, safety, availability, check experience, credibility, history, find a location, receive a brochure, or just talk to someone.

d. Simplify information layout. When you understand what people want to do you can map out your pages to logically take them to their goals. For each page asl: "who will use this?" and "How will it help them?". This will clarify the order of pages and remove redundant ones that can get in the way.

e. Simplify content. Most visitors won't read everything; they will scan for keywords. Keep sentences to 8-12 words and paragraphs to 4-5 lines. If you must provide lots of written information put this behind a clear and concise front page. Getting down to the core needs of potential customers will help you simplify your site. You may not need all the expensive bells and whistles, but you will need a site that is clear, professional, and easy to use.