Many resources exist that tell you what you need to do to make the most of your website.
These articles stress the importance of adding social media to your site, starting a blog, and optimizing your site for search engines, but many leave out what you don’t need on your website. A recent article on Hubspot, however, does just that. This article discusses five key elements that you should either avoid or stop if you are already guilty of them.
The first is having too many complicated animations. While flash-based animation might look fun and exciting, they often can slow your sight and negatively impact your SEO. If your site takes too long to load, many visitors will simply go somewhere else for information. The article suggests that you take your animations off for a set period of time and see how it affects the metrics like lead generation and time-on-site.
The second thing to avoid is using too much industry jargon. It is a common mistake to assume that the consumer is familiar with industry technology and terminology. Avoid this by highlighting words on your site that are not commonly used outside of the industry. If you are unsure if the word needs to be changed, ask the consumer.
The third issue that should be considered is having too many images. Like having complicated animations, too many images can slow down the load time of your site. This can drive visitors away and damage your SEO. Images are an important part of your site because they help tell your company’s story. Keep some images on your site, but delete any that aren’t adding to your company’s story.
The fourth thing that needs to be removed from you website is having long pages of text. The longer your page is, the more likely the information will be ignored. Internet users typically don’t like to scroll pages, so keep the information short and to the point. If it takes several scrolls to get to the bottom of your page, ask yourself if all the information is about the same topic or if it is relevant. Perhaps try dividing your page into several shorter pages. Keeping it simple will encourage visitors to read the information instead of just scrolling through.
The last key element that should be removed or avoided is using a standard “contact us” form. This may sound strange, but according to Hubspot, “contact us” forms don’t work. They generally attract more spam than anything. This article suggests that instead of using a normal contact form, try using a landing page. Landing pages provide a direct connection to lead generation offers.
