Keep It Simple, Stupid: The Beauty of a Clean Cut Website

by: Tom Antion

Keep It Simple, Stupid: The Beauty of a Clean Cut Website - Don’t knock it; “Keep It Simple, Stupid” is a great rule to live by. Nobody likes a website to “yell” at them, with blaring colors and flashing lights. Too many buttons will turn customers off. I had this problem with my homepage at http://www.antion.com/. A colleague of mine, who makes a lot of money, pointed out the cluttered look of my site. I had worked so closely on every detail of the page; that I couldn’t see it for what it was anymore.

I set out to simplify my site, first by removing the banners and combining my navigational buttons. The goal was a clean looking homepage, so possible customers would not get frustrated or confused and click away.

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I also eliminated many of the choices on my site, narrowing it down to two groups for my main clientele, “Need a Speaker” or “Be a Speaker.” The concept here is to make it simple for my customers to locate what it is they are looking for. Reducing the choices on my site will save customers from having to wade through all of my stuff. This would do nothing more than waste their time and reflect poorly on me and my ability to help them.