Websites have evolved over the last 20 years – has yours?
Back in the day (way, way back), websites for businesses were often the e-version repository of every paper document a company-issued. The homepage was the company brochure. Other pages included the company directory, product and program documentation for every product or program offered, copies of every newsletter ever issued, pages describing the entire history of the organization.
Websites were information-dense. Pages and pages of data, text, and information. Everything and anything that was produced in print, for anyone – prospect, client, vendor, or employee – was digitized and added to the website.
But over the last two decades, websites have evolved. Today they usually target the customer and client. They focus on helping answer the searcher’s question, “Can my problem be solved by this company or organization?” In today’s digital-dense environment, the data-laden website adds complexity and ‘noise’, which often impedes the process of discovery.
In my January newsletter, I talked about the problems with too much noise. To make it easier for visitors to find what they are looking for, more and more organizations are moving away from websites of dozens of pages.
Instead, today’s websites tend to be more streamlined, with pages focused on helping visitors answer their questions.
Websites today should inform, and then engage, the visitor and information seeker.
The Home Page should provide answers to the question, “who is this organization and are they relevant to the problem I have?” Pathways (links) from the home page take the visitor further, answering questions and meeting their needs. Other website pages provide details that facilitate this journey. Anything else impedes progress.
A website audit can help determine if your website is laden with unnecessary complexity. An audit can identify pages that do not help move the visitor forward to greater engagement. It can also identify redundancy and dead-ends.
Redundancy creates a whirlpool that frustrates and impedes engagement. Repeating information the visitor has already gleaned from a previous page hampers their discovery process. Requiring multiple clicks to access new information is off-putting and can result in the visitor leaving your website.
Dead-ends on a website prevent a visitor from moving forward. If they reach the bottom of the page and their question is still unanswered the dead-end likely sends them away to some other website or a new google search.
One simple fix is to review the bottom of every page on your website – does it invite the visitor to move forward, or does it simply end, feeling like the last paragraph of a book? Where does it leave the visitor?
Today, a website is a necessary tool for helping prospects find you and what you offer. Once they are there, it should provide them with a simple path for answering their questions about your organization and how it can solve their problem.
Simplifying this process with a streamlined and up-to-date website will increase engagement and support for your organization or business.
If you need help assessing your website, reach out and let’s see if I can help.
