For many website owners, their website is as personal to them as the clothes they wear. I’m a very organised and structured person. My clothing choices tend to be monochromatic and rarely patterned. I tend to like websites which are clean and crisp. See a trend here? I’m fairly conservative when it comes to my clothing preferences and opt for comfort rather than the latest style in fashion. Similarly, I prefer websites where the website design functions well and conveys the core message clearly rather than websites that simply adopt the latest whiz-bang technology features for no particular reason. But that’s just me and it suits my personal style preferences.
The knack is to know your own personal style and make sure your website style represents the online version of you. Trying to obtain a look and feel that meets the aesthetic preferences of everybody is not easy, almost impossible. Everyone has their own unique style preferences and wants something different.
Websites need to be regularly updated
Websites just like the clothes in your wardrobe need a refresh every once in a while. Shoulder-padded shirts were very cool in the 1980s, but not so much now. Remember when black and grey technology-style websites were popular? Or when people created table based websites? Or websites that over-used flash? Or websites that used internal scrolling and frames? Thankfully some things have changed for the better.
Even something as simple as 8px font size has gone. Now many designs have a minimum of 12px font size. Why? Monitors have changed, resolutions are altered, mobile devices have arrived, and the average age of the internet user has increased.
Life evolves and your website design must evolve too
Today you might be fond of a thin tie, but tomorrow it might need to be thicker. As you change and mature, your clothing style does too. As your business matures, your website should as well. Products or services may change, or your logo may get a refresh, or you finally decide that blogging and social media are keys to your online survival. Everything has a time and a place. And virtually nothing can stand still for very long.
What’s inside your website wardrobe?
Let’s take a moment and think about the clothes inside your wardrobe at home. Think about one piece of clothing that you’ve kept for what seems like forever, even though you know that its probably better off being donated to the Sallies. You do have one, right? We all do. Now let’s think about your website? What is still sitting prominently on your website that should have been archived months or years ago? And the bigger question is why is it still up there?
You may be aware of people’s reaction to your outdated wardrobe when you meet them face-to-face, but on the internet your visitors come and go and you’ll never even know they were there except for a brief visit of a few seconds showing on your web analytics report. Worse still, you may not even know that it’s that animated gif from 1995 that is sending them away, preventing them from even bothering to click-through to the internal pages that may be housing your prime content.
Take a moment and walk through your website and then your wardrobe. Make a list of everything that needs to be donated or thrown away and write down any necessities you think you’re missing. Then get in touch. I might not be able to resolve your wardrobe issues, but I am certain I can help you design a better website.
