So little time and so much to do. I feel like that's pretty much everybody's mantra these days.
That is a good thing to keep in mind when you are building a website...or designing a newsletter...or creating a blog...or an Etsy shop. People want information quickly and if they don't find it quickly they will move on.
Having been in my creative career for almost 30 years I had a tremendous amount of artwork from finished jobs, personal projects, charity work, etc. When I had to develop a new website, I thought more is better. I figured that someone that might want to hire me for a job would love to know how much work I've created, even if it's not in their industry. Wrong.
It was lovingly pointed out to me that everybody's really busy and they don't have time to look through an entire website full of unrelated information. They want the information quickly and easily. I know that when I personally visit websites looking for something specific, if I see a lot of unrelated information I leave the site and move onto the next one.
So this leads me to my most important tip... "Editing"
I have a really hard time editing myself but I started to pair down and eliminate anything that wasn't directly related to this new market.
You know what? It was actually kind of freeing and it made it much easier for me to target my website. I was able to hone in on what was important right now. Really, in the eyes of a client or customer, you are only as good as your last project. Or maybe your current one.
I realized it was important for potential clients or customers to not have to hunt for the information they needed on my website. It had to be really clear. This thought was front and center as I weeded out and edited.
My next tip is... "Keep it Simple"
One thing that helped me stay focused was limiting how many tabs or buttons I created in my website design. Then what I had as far as artwork or information had to fit with in those few tabs or it was eliminated.
It had to be easy to navigate, clean looking, easy to update, reflect my personality and be mostly about my art.
Questions to ask yourself about your content as you build your website.
1. Doesn't it reflect me now...not in the past.
2. Is it really necessary?
3. It may be interesting to family and friends but would it be interesting to a stranger, customer or client?
4. Is it relevant to my current work?
5. Would it be missed if it was not there?
6. Does it add to what I do or does it distract from my real message?
7. How quickly can the right people find what they need?
My last tip would be... "Feedback"
Overall I'm really happy with my new site. I feel like it represents me now and it's been really easy to keep current.
Creating it was a lot of work but having a bit of focus really helped. Also, talking to other people in my industry and getting feedback was invaluable. There are a lot of places you can reach out for constructive feedback. You can hire a consultant in your industry (which is what I did), You can post feedback requests in specialized groups on social media like Facebook, You can ask family and friends to test the ease of use and you can compare it to other sites you admire.
Do you have a hard time editing yourself?
Do you have a website that your building or have built or want to build?
Are you thinking about maybe trying things in a new niche market of your industry or maybe a completely new industry?
You can visit my website and see what you think about my final product. www.pamvale.com I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject.
Until next week,
Pam
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