The original ‘Real Housewives Gifs Explain Internet Marketing’ did so well that I decided to make a second. You demanded it with your web traffic, and so this is happening:
1. When the navigation item says one thing and the title of the page says another
You likely have felt this before, when you click on something and it takes you to a seamingly different page… you look a little closer and it was the page you were trying to get to – just with a different title. Someone was trying to be cute… or something, but it just came off as confusing. That’s called bad ‘user experience.’
2. When you open up a website and music or sound starts playing right away
No one I’ve ever met has loved it when they opened a website in their quiet office, or home for that matter and your shitty elevator music or zen soundscape starts playing. Sit down.
3. What it looks like when seems disingenuous or artificial in their copy
I touched on this in the my last housewife gifs post, but stop it with the ‘corporate-ese’; if you wouldn’t say it to a client in a face to face meeting than don’t write these complicated overly formal headlines or paragraphs on your homepage and service pages. Bring it down a notch, be playful, be simple, and think about why what you do really helps people. Bring a little emotion in, and maybe a copywriter to liven it up.
My age old adage – hire a professional.
4. When there’s a wall of text on a website without being broken up by images or graphic elements
I believe in a strategy that incorporates a lot of text. So I’m not telling you to make a website that has 5 giant pictures, 10 words on the whole thing, and only appears on Dribbble (a website for designers who share often stark and highly designed designs.) But… do focus on a balance between images and text, perhaps 200 words and an image alternating from left to right, or utilizing show/hides (the kind that hide the text after the page loads – otherwise google won’t see the text and you won’t get the SEO benefit.)
5. When someone says people love their old outdated website
The truth behind a clinging to an old website, is that people might indeed like the ‘simple’ or ‘prototypical’ because they know where things are. There’s nothing wrong with that, especially for websites targeting clientele over 60, but if your website is not for older people – every set of user tests I’ve ever conducted someone mentioned the design elements and whether they looked modern.
Modern = Up-to-date = You care about your business = Professional
6. When your website starts converting clients that aren’t the right type of clients
Most people who have a service offering and a website that’s converting visitors know what this is like. We’re converting people that don’t have the resources to really work with us. How do we draw it back without losing real customers? Well, personally I’d rather convert 3 bad leads and one good lead than no leads, but it might be time to remove verbiage like ‘affordable,’ ‘cheap’, or even ‘small business’ if you’re actually wanting to work with mid to large businesses. It really depends on what you’re after.
7. When you’re trying to get the most out of new website launch
Ain’t no shame in flaunting it. When you have a new website, there’s many ways to make the most out of the re-invigorated design, elements, and content. Share it all over social media more than once, make nice gif’s showing the best features, toot your own horn, heck – throw a party. In the end the best way to celebrate a new website launch is to do what feels natural – then do it again, learning from mistakes, and evolving it into something more exciting.
Two weeks go by – you can chill out on that. Hopefully you had fun.
Bonus: 1 Southern Charm Gif 😜
8. When you make it dead obvious how superior your offering is compared to competitors
If your website does it’s job it will leave visitors with this feeling when they go to a competitor’s site. In most of our minds it’s very difficult to decipher the endless amount of signals we need to really find out which offering is superior, so we skip to the most obvious and bold imagery, headlines and key areas of copy. When something looks well-designed, the key things they are looking for are present, the site looks like it’s professional and from a reputable company – people will skip to the next step more often: becoming a customer.
Thank you for reading my meager thoughts on the ever-important ‘Real Housewives Gifs Explain Web Design.’ If you enjoyed it, please share with your unsuspecting followers for their bemusement.
