2 ways your website should be serving you

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#digitaldilemma

Your website is amazing.

It’s functioning how you want it to.

It’s allowing you to conduct business.

It’s a hub of clear information, visually designed in an appealing way to not only make it easier to navigate, but also to keep the user informed, engaged and interested.

Or is it?

[hmmm]

If you find yourself not really feeling your website these days, this article is for you.

We’re taking a look at two ways your website can start serving you (and your users) right now!

Make it brain-friendly

When someone visits your website, how is everything laid out?

Are there large chunks of text rolling on the page, jumbled and mis-matched graphics, and ads popping up over and over, with all the bells and whistles?

Or, when someone lands on your homepage, are they greeted with a serene overview of who you are, what you are about, and how you serve people?

Do they feel inspired? Excited at all?

Are they seeing evenly spaced out blocks, or menu bars with tons and tons of dropdown options?

Is the text super small and not easy to read? Are there way too many fonts to keep up with?

I feel you. I’ve been there.

In this lesson, we’re going to take a look at how your website can serve you better when the layout is simple.

[Yay!]

You can easily have an exciting and beautiful website, don’t worry — but it can also be laid out in a fashion that does not overwhelm the user.

Here’s an example. I used to think that the more dropdown menus and options on those menus that you had, the better the website.

Wrong!

When people see more than 4 or 5 things on a menu bar, their mind switches.

Read this article below from USA Today about your brain and how it doesn’t like too many choices:

Mind blown? Yes there is proof that too much choice overwhelms your brain

You have probably heard of the jelly jar study. (They mention it in the above article.) Bottom line, a jelly person laid out a ton of options, like 30, for people to sample from. Of that group, only a small percentage of people who tried the jelly ended up purchasing. However, when presented with a much smaller number of jelly jars to sample from, I believe it was 6 — almost 10 times as many people ended up purchasing.

Why?

Because their brains had an easier time making a decision!

If our brain gets overwhelmed with too many things to look at, or too many options, science tells us we will just freeze up and take no action.

You might have heard of closet organizing professionals saying you should only have very few items in your closet and discard the rest. This is because if you have too many options inside your closet, you will just refuse to choose what to wear…leading many of us to just wear the same three things all the time! [guilty!]

So, how does this relate to your website serving you?

Your website will serve you MORE when you have LESS overwhelm to deal with on the pages.

Don’t get me wrong — you can definitely have as many pages and as much content and beautiful graphics as you want!

But there is an optimal way for you to display all that.

Examples that have worked for me:

Limit your navigation bar to 6 or less menu items. Some experts say more, some say less. Six or less has shown positive results for me.

Limit the number of dropdowns from the menu bar options.

Have a lot of pages but you need to avoid so many things showing up in the dropdowns?

No worries.

Create pages and sections inside other pages of your website, and link to those KEY ONES on your main dropdown nav menu!

[Note — you can basically get really creative and organized with grouping things here, making it easy for you.]

Use spacing and blocking to your advantage. What I mean is: Avoid huge chunks of text.

Break it up into sections.

Break things up with photos.

Utilize columns and side-by-side content, rather than long and rambling content. This makes it easier for people to read and look at. It also makes it visually more interesting.

Another key point: Limit the number of different fonts and colors.

I usually stick with 3 different fonts, some people use more. Also, stick within your brand colors - about 4-6 colors, maybe more, maybe less - and don’t veer too far from that.

Have colorful photos that you want to show, but don’t want it to look too crazy?

Create a white or neutral page and just stick with white and black or gray, just for that page. Those images will now pop, too!

I would say the biggest takeaway here for you is to think about things in smaller, attractive chunks, rather than long and daunting text and pictures.

If you really want someone only to pay attention to one or two things on a certain page…don’t give them the option to view anything else, then!

Think of it this way: When someone drops onto your page for the first time, what path would someone logically take vs. the one that you want them to take?

I sometimes think of it as a video game. When they enter, where is the next door? Where is the path, and where is it leading? What is the goal?

Common goals include: You want them to buy from you, book a call with you, book a service, read your blog, sign up for your newsletter, go to your Podcast. The list goes on!

Think in terms of a clear goal, a less-is-more layout, and think in smaller, appealing chunks that keep the user engaged!

This will lead to your website serving you.

Organize your blog section

Blogging is a great way to feature different aspects, products and services within your business, or if you’re not a business, it gives you the opportunity to showcase new information and engage with people, while organizing the content in a really nice way.

Blogging is best when done consistently and when it is posted in a very clear and interesting manner.

Your website will definitely serve you most when new content is being produced.

A blog is a great place to post that new and consistent content!

Search engines like Google and Pinterest love brand new, never-before-seen content.

This means a new URL that is generated from you posting a blog will be noticed by Google and Pinterest and other search engines.

How does this serve you?

Users love to see new content and they want to see it from you consistently and clearly. This will serve you because it keeps them interested and interacting with you.

Here are some examples of how you can organize your blog:

Group your blog posts by category or tags.

You can create a clickable link or an image inside your main blog page that links to each category.

For example, on my main blog page, HERE, you can see I separated mine into categories, such as Web Design, Online Business, and Email Marketing. This simplifies the viewing experience for the user, and it will lead to your website serving you better.

Why will organizing the blog page allow your website to serve you better?

Because when people are better able to read and perceive the content, they will connect with it more, they will resonate with it and they will be able to draw insight, knowledge or wisdom from it (or entertainment, if that’s what you produce!)

The more clear and organized it is, the better you serve your users = the more your website is serving you!

Other ways to keep your blog organized:

Provide an organized way that people can find each blog’s content category, like I just mentioned.

You can also schedule and post your blog each week or bi-weekly at the exact same time, so that it is super organized and consistent, leading people to trust you since you always produce content at the same time.

Doing it this way really steps your game up!

You can publish the posts at exactly the same time simply by writing them, then scheduling them. I use Squarespace, and it’s a super easy process to do within my content management system.

Got a question about scheduling? Message me, HERE!

Keep your blog organized by creating somewhat uniform looking thumbnail images along with the posts (that is, if you use thumbnail images at all.)

When I first created a blog years ago, I know at the time I thought my blog images looked great because they were eye-catching and descriptive, but after really researching other websites and blogs, and reading books and listening to Podcasts on organization, I realized I was doing myself, my readers and my customers wrong by displaying so many random things.

Here are some recommended materials on organizing your belongings, your writing, and even your life. I’m not an affiliate, but I just really like these resources! Although they do not directly relate to organizing your blog necessarily, the teachings here have really spilled over into my blogging and writing life!

Keeping You Organized, a Podcast by Smead

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Marie Kondo

The Best Yes: Making Wise Decisions in the Midst of Endless Demands Book by Lysa TerKeurst

Another way to organize your blog in order to make your website serve you, is to be sure that when you post a blog, you are writing directly about a topic that will produce a benefit for your reader, or customer.

When you write about a topic that will solve a problem for someone, you are then serving them, which means your website is really serving you!

If our brain gets overwhelmed with too many things to look at, or too many options, science tells us we will just freeze up and take no action.

Here are some great ways you can figure out what problems people want solved, or what people really want to read about:

Search Pinterest or YouTube for what the most searched keywords are

List out the most-searched topics on Google and Pinterest

Post questions on your Facebook page, and just ask people!

Post questions and create polls inside your Instagram stories, and Facebook stories.

Check the trending hashtags on Twitter

Browse at magazine covers when you’re at the store

Create surveys yourself and ask people to fill them out; you can even include them next time you send out your latest email marketing campaign

Go inside your favorite Facebook groups or look on Reddit for what people are struggling with

Also…ask people in person!

Ask people what they wish they could learn about. You might be surprised to find out that something you consider to be common sense and intuitive is actually not something that everyone knows, after all. So, go write about it!

CONCLUSION

Today we talked about two small ways you can make your website work for you. But the proper way to have a successful website — is to SERVE OTHERS!

Your website will serve you, when you serve others.

If you want more information on setting up your blog and your amazing website, or if you need a website cleanup, message me HERE.

Be sure to check the Online Business Hub HERE for the latest freebies I made for you to rock out your business and your skills!