Your website is your digital storefront, your online ambassador, and often, your first impression. So, why clutter it with elements that confuse, bore, or deter visitors? It’s time for a spring cleaning!
Here are 13 items to remove from your website immediately:
1. Vague Homepage Headlines:
- Ditch the “Welcome to Our Website!” Replace it with a clear, concise statement that grabs attention and conveys your unique value proposition. Vague headlines leave visitors wondering what your website offers, leading to disengagement and higher bounce rates.
- Search engines love clarity. Vague headlines with no relevant keywords hinder your website’s discoverability, making it harder for potential customers to find you. A strong headline grabs attention, sparks curiosity, and entices visitors to explore further. Vagueness wastes this crucial opportunity to connect with your audience and convert them into leads.
- Focus on the benefits visitors will gain from engaging with your website. Instead of “We Offer Consulting Services,” use “Unlock Growth Potential with Expert Business Consulting.” Encourage action with strong verbs that spark interest. Instead of “Learn More About Us,” try “Start Your Free Trial Today.” Showcase the positive change your product or service brings to the user’s life.
- Use numbers or data to quantify the value your offering provides. Instead of “Increase Your Sales” try “Boost Your Sales by 20% with Our Data-Driven Marketing Strategies”.
- If you have a unique selling proposition (USP), make sure it shines through in the headline. Instead of “We are a Marketing Agency” try “Get Results, Not Just Reports: Data-Driven Marketing Tailored for Your Industry”.
- Use limited-time offers or scarcity to encourage immediate action. Instead of “Get a Free Consultation” try “Claim Your Free Growth Strategy Session Before Spots Run Out (Only 5 Left!)”.
2. Generic Navigation Labels:
“Services” and “About Us” are snoozefests. Use specific, benefit-oriented labels that tell visitors what they’ll get by clicking. When visitors see labels like “Services” or “About Us,” they have no clue what specific services you offer or what information they’ll find on the “About Us” page. This confusion leads to higher bounce rates and missed opportunities. Search engines love clarity and context. Generic labels offer neither, hindering your website’s discoverability and search engine ranking for relevant keywords. Clear navigation labels act as breadcrumbs, guiding visitors towards the information they need and keeping them engaged with your website. Generic labels fail to provide this guidance, leading to a disjointed and frustrating experience.
Crafting Clarity Through Labels:
- Specificity is Key: Replace generic labels with specific terms that accurately reflect the content on each page. Instead of “Services,” use “Web Design & Development,” “SEO Services,” or “Content Marketing.”
- Benefit-Driven Language: Highlight the benefits visitors will gain from clicking on each link. Instead of “About Us,” use “Meet the Team Behind Your Success” or “Discover Our Passion for Helping Businesses Grow.”
- Actionable Verbs: Encourage visitors to take action with verbs like “Explore,” “Discover,” or “Learn More.”
- Target Your Audience: Consider what resonates with your target audience and tailor your labels accordingly. For example, instead of “Contact Us,” use “Schedule Your Free Consultation Today” or “Get Your Questions Answered Now.”
- Consistency Matters: Maintain a consistent tone and style throughout your navigation labels for a user-friendly experience.
Consider using dropdown menus for longer lists of pages, but maintain clear and specific labels within the dropdown itself.
3. Meaningless Subheads
Don’t just repeat your headline in smaller font. Use subheads to highlight key points and entice readers to delve deeper. A subhead reading “Our Expertise” below a generic paragraph about your company history doesn’t tell visitors what expertise you offer.
Be specific! Instead, use “Crafting Award-Winning Websites” or “Boosting Your Sales with Data-Driven Marketing.” Subheads like “Benefits We Offer” or “Key Features” are snooze-inducing clichés. Spice things up with action verbs, unique selling points, and benefit-oriented language. For example, instead of “Innovative Solutions,” try “Revolutionize Your Workflow with Cutting-Edge Technology.”
Avoid sensational, misleading subheads that don’t reflect the actual content. This erodes trust and bounces visitors faster than you can say “false advertising.”
4. Homepage Slideshows:
Slideshows often do more harm than good, serving as dazzling distractions that deter users from engaging with your website. They’re slow, distracting, and rarely mobile-friendly.
Opt for static hero images or video backgrounds that showcase your brand. In an age of short attention spans, bombarding users with multiple slides vying for their attention is counterproductive. They’ll likely click away before seeing the full message, missing valuable information.
Slideshows often require additional scripts and images to load, increasing page load times. This negatively impacts user experience and SEO rankings.
Users might miss the call to action or key information buried within a slide they didn’t see. This wastes your opportunity to convert them into leads or customers.
5. Stock Photos of People:
Unless it’s directly relevant to your brand or product, ditch the cheesy smiles and opt for genuine photos that reflect your audience. While stock photos offer readily available images to fill the visual gaps on your website, they often act like unwelcome guests, detracting from user experience and brand authenticity.
- Inauthenticity Breeds Distrust: When visitors see posed smiles and staged scenarios that don’t resonate with your brand or audience, they feel a disconnect. This undermines trust and credibility, making it harder to connect with them.
- Cliché Combos Kill Uniqueness: Generic handshakes, forced laughter, and staged meetings are overused and forgettable. They fail to reflect your brand’s unique personality and value proposition, blending in with countless other websites.
- Diversity Deficit: Many stock photo libraries lack diverse representation, failing to reflect the true demographics of your audience or the values of inclusivity. This can alienate potential customers and limit your reach.
Better Alternatives to Stock Photos:
- Custom Photography: Invest in high-quality photos featuring real people who represent your brand, your team, and your audience. This builds trust and connection.
- User-Generated Content (UGC): Encourage users to share photos or videos featuring their experience with your brand. This authenticity resonates deeply and promotes social proof.
- Unsplash & Pexels: Explore these platforms offering free, high-resolution photos with diverse representation and liberal licensing, allowing for customization.
- Illustrations & Graphics: Consider using original illustrations or infographics that align with your brand style and effectively tell your story.
6. Social Media Icons in the Header:
Move them to the footer or dedicated contact page. Don’t force interaction; let visitors choose how they connect.
While it’s important to connect with your audience on social media, placing those icons in the header can have unintended consequences.
The Drawbacks of Distraction:
- Attention Hijacking: Prominent social media icons in the header compete for visitors’ time and focus, potentially drawing them away from exploring your website’s valuable content and calls to action.
- Premature Bounce: If a visitor clicks on a social media icon early in their visit, they might get lost in the social media vortex, never returning to your website. This decreases engagement and potential conversions.
- Disturbed Visual Hierarchy: Social media icons can disrupt the visual flow of your website, especially for smaller screens. This can make the layout appear cluttered and hinder user experience.
- SEO Slump: Search engines prioritize content within your website, not external links to social media. Having icons in the header offers minimal SEO value.
7. Dates on Blog Posts:
Focus on evergreen content and timeless value. Unless the date is crucial to the information, let it go.
- Timeless Content Appeal: Evergreen content, addressing universal topics or solutions, benefits from removing the date, creating a feeling of timelessness and broader applicability.
- Combating Outdatedness Anxiety: Outdated content concerns can be minimized by clearly labeling older posts that still offer valuable information, or updating them regularly.
- Visual Clutter: Dates, especially on minimalist blog layouts, can contribute to visual clutter and distract from the core content.
- Focus on Value, Not Timeliness: The quality and value of your content should be the primary focus, not its publication date.
If you do include dates, consider displaying them subtly, offering options to filter by date range, and clearly labeling updated content to combat outdatedness concerns.
8. Long Paragraphs:
Break them up with subheadings, bullet points, and visuals. Aim for bite-sized, scannable content that respects visitors’ time.
Our digital age demands brevity. Attention spans are short, and long paragraphs act like roadblocks, forcing readers to abandon ship in search of more digestible content.
Dense blocks of text overwhelm readers, making it difficult to grasp key points and remember information. This leads to confusion and disengagement.
Walls of text create a visually unappealing experience. White space and visual elements act as breathing room, enhancing readability and user experience. Aim for paragraphs with 3-5 sentences. Break down complex information into smaller, digestible chunks. Highlight key terms and phrases strategically to draw attention and enhance comprehension.
9. Press Releases:
Unless they’re highly relevant to your current audience, archive them or create summaries on your news page.
10. PDF Files:
If possible, embed the information directly on your website for better accessibility and search engine optimization (SEO). While PDFs offer portability and document formatting advantages, using them excessively on your website can create accessibility and engagement roadblocks.
Not everyone can access or easily navigate PDFs, especially users with disabilities, older technology, or slow internet connections. This creates an exclusionary experience and hinders your reach.
Search engines primarily crawl text content, leaving valuable information within PDFs invisible to search results. This limits your SEO potential and organic traffic. Viewing PDFs on mobile devices can be cumbersome, requiring downloads or zooming in and out, leading to frustration and abandonment.
You lose valuable user behavior data embedded in website interactions when visitors engage with content through PDFs. When possible, embed key information directly into your website using text, tables, or interactive elements. This improves accessibility, SEO, and mobile experience.
Your website should be an open and inclusive space that caters to all users and allows them to access information effortlessly. If you absolutely must use PDFs, optimize them for search engines by including relevant keywords in the filename and title, and consider offering alternative text descriptions for images within the PDF.
11. The Testimonials Page:
Scatter testimonials throughout your website, near relevant products or services. They’re more impactful when integrated with the content.
While testimonials can be powerful tools for building trust and credibility, relying solely on a dedicated “Testimonials Page” often relegates them to a digital graveyard. Tucked away on a dedicated page, testimonials can be easily missed, losing their potential to influence visitor decisions.
Testimonials can quickly become outdated, reflecting past experiences that may not resonate with current audiences. Embed testimonials strategically throughout your website, near relevant products, services, or pain points they address. This creates a contextual impact and increases their visibility.
Leverage the power of video to showcase genuine emotions and customer stories, adding depth and personal connection to your testimonials. Share positive customer reviews and social media mentions directly on your website, demonstrating real-time validation and building trust. Create detailed case studies highlighting customer challenges, your solutions, and the positive outcomes. This offers deeper insights and quantifiable results.
Testimonials are about building trust and connection, not just showcasing accolades. By integrating them strategically and creatively, you can leverage their power to influence purchasing decisions, boost conversions, and build lasting relationships with your audience.
12. Email Links:
Replace them with a user-friendly contact form. Email harvesting bots love exposed email addresses, and visitors prefer the security of a form. While email links seem like a straightforward way to provide contact information, relying solely on them can create obstacles for visitors and hinder their journey towards conversion.
Clicking an email link often opens a separate email client, disrupting the user experience and requiring additional steps to initiate contact. This can lead to abandonment, especially for mobile users.
You lose valuable insights into user behavior when they navigate away from your website to send an email. This hinders your ability to track conversions and optimize your contact methods. Generic email addresses offer limited opportunities for personalization and building rapport with potential customers. Users might hesitate to click email links due to concerns about spam or phishing attempts, hindering their willingness to connect.
Implement user-friendly contact forms directly on your website, allowing visitors to send messages without leaving the page. Pre-fill fields (like name or email) if possible to further streamline the process. Provide click-to-call buttons for mobile users, enabling them to initiate phone calls directly from your website for a seamless connection.
Explore integrating popular messaging apps like WhatsApp or Messenger for convenient communication options preferred by younger demographics. Use department-specific or role-based email addresses instead of generic ones, fostering a sense of connection and trust. Accompany contact options with clear and concise calls to action, telling visitors exactly what you want them to do (e.g., “Schedule a Demo” or “Get a Quote”).
Your goal is to make it as easy and convenient as possible for visitors to connect with you. By offering diverse and user-friendly contact options beyond just email links, you can remove friction, improve accessibility, gather valuable data, and ultimately convert more visitors into satisfied customers.
13. The Thank You Page:
Don’t just say “thanks.” Use this valuable real estate to offer bonus content, promote related products, or collect further information.
Ditch the basic “Thank You.” Your Thank You page is a prime conversion spot! Here’s how to supercharge it:
- Tailor & Target: Craft personalized messages based on user actions, highlighting their specific value gained.
- Next Step Calls: Guide users with clear CTAs to relevant content, products, or services that pique their interest.
- Social Sharing Incentives: Motivate sharing with exclusive offers or rewards, amplifying your reach.
- Anticipation Builder: Tease upcoming events or promotions to generate excitement for what’s next.
- Feedback Loop: Gather valuable insights with an easy-to-use feedback form to improve your offerings.
Experiment with gamification, video testimonials, and interactive elements to keep users engaged and drive action.
It’s not just about saying “Thank You,” it’s about building relationships and turning interactions into journeys. Make your Thank You page a conversion champion!
In conclusion, your website should be a clear, concise, and engaging experience. By removing these unnecessary elements, you’ll create a space that welcomes visitors, converts leads, and reflects your brand’s true potential. Now go forth and declutter!
