Don't let your website get cluttered

One of the biggest website hurdles to overcome is that of a super busy website. The information is great, and it's there, but it's not easy to take it all in. Here are some common comments from websites that are too cluttered:

• my website is too busy
• it's too hard to find information
• there's just too much stuff
• I don't know what to click on

We know the information is important, and it has to be there. So how can you present it better? Here's some ideas that we think will help you.

1. Create a Site Map

When your website has lots of information to present, it's very helpful to organize it by categories. Here is an example site map:

• Home
  
• About Us
  
  • Our Company
    
  • Our History
    
  • Our Staff
    
  • Testimonials
    
• Services
  
• Press Room
  
• Contact Us

Put your content into categories to make it easier to find with a site map.

2. Clean up your home page

The tendency for every website is to post every bit of new information to your home page. This is OK, as long as your remove the not-so-new information from the home page at the same time.

It's actually very helpful to keep your home page updated with "What's New" type of things. It's just when you forget to take them down when they're not new anymore is when you run into problems.

3. Keep pictures organized

Nothing will make a website look more jumbled than having random, huge images scattered randomly on your website. Make sure all your pictures follow these guidelines:

• Resize them. Make sure they're big enough to view, but still fairly small. Allow users to click them to view larger version if necessary.
• Use photo galleries. If you want to use large photos then keep them organized in a photo gallery where people can view them if they want to.
• Add some extra padding in between your images and the text or the end of the screen. Having things too close together makes it look cluttered.
• Wrap text around pictures. It looks good to fill up any empty space on your website with text. See the example below:

The best way to align your images with text wrapped around.

The not so good way to align your images.


4. Ask people what they think

Since we know our own websites inside and out, we often don't have the correct point of view. Ask people who don't look at your website very much what they think. Is it easy to navigate? Is it intuitive? Or do they look at it blankly not really knowing what to do, click on, or read?

Hopefully these tips help you keep your website usable and not too cluttered. Remember that your users want to find things easily and quickly. Good luck!

Use Facebook's "Like" Button

The word has gotten out that having a Facebook page can help your business or non-profit. But what a lot of people do not know is how to really utilize your Facebook page with your website.

One way to do that is with Facebook's "Like" button. Putting a "Like" button on your website is a very good idea for people who want to better use Facebook and their website for their business.

Here's why you should do it:

1. It's easy to set up

Facebook even gives you the code! Go here - https://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like/, fill out the form and copy and paste the code into your website. If you need help with it, feel free to ask us.

2. It's easy for your users

At the top of each page on our website is a "Like" button. All our users have to do is click that button and they're done! If they're not logged in to Facebook, they will be prompted to do so.

3. It spreads the word about your website

When someone clicks the "Like" button, it shows up on their News Feed. So their friends will see that they "Like" your website, and your website will get more traffic!

4. You can track it

Facebook has a page called "Insights" which gives you key stats about who "Likes" your webpage! Go to http://www.facebook.com/insights/ and follow the onscreen instructions to view the Facebook stats for your website. Here's a very helpful step by step guide if you have trouble - http://www.wisnet.com/blog/using-facebook-insights-to-track-the-like-button-box-and-shares/.

Note that you may not see demographic information on your fans if you don't have very many fans yet. Facebook will hide that until you get a certain number of fans. But once you reach that point, then you can see very valuable information such as gender, age, or where they live.

If you have a Facebook page, we definitely recommend adding the "Like" button to it!

Is your website optimized for smart phones?

So many people today are browsing the internet on smart phones. Even if you don't use one, there are a lot of people out there visiting your website on their phone. In this article we will talk about a great way to optimize your website for smart phones.

Mobile Only Website

The best way to optimize for smart phones is to create a mobile only website. If you don't use a smart phone, you probably haven't seen a mobile only website before.

Example: If you go to www.bestbuy.com on a smart phone you see a completely different website than if you go to www.bestbuy.com on a regular computer.

Why is this? Best Buy has created a "mobile only" version of their website. The website can detect if the user is on a smart phone, and when that happens, they direct them to the mobile only version.

What are some features of mobile only versions?

• Smaller
• Fast loading
• Fewer pictures and graphics
• Only displays the most important information
• Contact info and directions very prominent
• Link back to the full version of website (for users who just really want to see the regular website)

What if I don't have a mobile only version?

Most likely, your website is still accessible to a smart phone. It just won't be quite as easy for them to use your website, and there may be errors. There are a few things that you may have on your website that may cause problems for mobile users:

• Flash
• Errors in CSS or HTML
• Very wide design
• Frames
• Nested tables

How to test your website

Here's a link to a mobile simulator - www.opera.com/mobile/demo. If you go there, you can enter in a website address to see how it will look like on the Opera browser for smart phones. For testing purposes, try entering in our website, www.freshlookwebdesign.com. You should get forwarded to our mobile only version.

Most people we talk to are not familiar with the idea of having a mobile only version of their website. However it's a very nice, inexpensive feature to have. If you don't add it now, then it will just become even more important to do so in the coming years as more people get smart phones. We expect it will eventually become standard for every website to have a mobile only version.

Have a question? Call or email at 757-646-7908 or info@freshlookwebdesign.com.