You can accuse me of "drinkin' the kool-aid" and you might be right, but in this case I have to say you can't deny the psychology behind it all.
I have a personal pet peeve about business. When you're doing something "right" it works for you, right? It flows and its effortless. You put out content, it gets received and taken in. You ask for comments, you get them. People buy your products, invest in your services and everything in hunky-dory.
All that is great and well & good, but how does it happen?
Part of it is by offering great quality content, by reaching the right people (people who actually want to be involved in your business), and showing up. All of that is a given, but part of a good business model is professionality. This is where I feel a lot of people drop the ball.
What am I talking about? Get this, think of the last time you went to a website. What did it look like? Were there ads out the wah-zoo? Or was the entire process of getting through the website streamlined? Chances are if it was some place like Marie Forleo, Laura George, or Jenny Shih's website it was nice, neat, and trim. You knew what you were there to do and if you didn't you found something they wanted you to do quickly and easily. No bustling confusion needed! If it was a personal blog, or website, or even a social media site it was likely littered with distractions. So many so that it either became a quick time suck or you just left because you couldn't get done what you meant to.
I'm sure those who have websites that fall in the latter category aren't going to like this post. But what I'm getting at is a simple point of fact I learned from Laura Roeder at Social Media Marketer. Your website has one specific purpose. It's to incite an action. (Share this with your followers.) It might be to get someone to buy a product, read a blog post, or purchase an informational product. The more clutter you have on your website the harder you make it for people to do that.
Sure, your website is a creation of your, an extension not only of your business but your brand, your personality. I've heard people say they "liked" clutter. (In fact I've said it myself, because I'm an easily distractable person, so I don't much mind it.) But do you really? It's a bit like walking into your house. Would you want to walk in and things be thrown this way and that, have to carve out a path to walk anywhere? Would that really give you piece of mind? Or would it be nicer to have things more streamline, simple, and easier to navigate? You don't have to be a neatfreak, gods know when I get creative I'm not, but you don't have to be a slob either...
Food for thought.
So tell me, where does your website stand in this situation? How do you feel when you visit the website of another person/business? What does theirs look like? Can you see the effect clutter in your web presence has on customer action and satisfaction?
Aradia
of
Aradia's Hand
