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Dave Charest

Speaker | Host | Content Creator | Marketer

How to Clean the Piles on Your Webpage

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Does it drive you crazy when there are piles of paperwork all over your workspace? Don’t you find it hard to get anything done with the clutter all around you? But what happens when you take a moment to clean things up? Doesn’t your brain feel like it can breathe again? Like it can actually focus?
Well, it’s not much different when a customer visits your website. Too many piles and your customer’s brain starts to hurt too. They get confused. And then they’re not sure what to do. So they end up not doing much of anything.
So how do you start cleaning up those piles so your customer’s brain doesn’t get confused? First we’ll need to know what those piles are.
What are the piles that confuse your visitors?
Quite simply, anything that doesn’t move your customer toward taking a specific action. This could mean: unnecessary flash elements, rotating banners, unrelated pictures or trying to fit everything on your homepage. You want to remove these piles because too many lead to inaction.
Why do too many piles lead to inaction?
All these piles end up competing for your customers attention. The more there are, the more distracted your customer becomes. It’s hard to make a decision because there are too many choices. Your brain just doesn’t want to decipher all that information. So it shuts down. And people just click away.
So you need to decide what information is necessary.
Then clean up the rest of those piles.
How do you decide which piles to clean?
Ask yourself one question, “What action do I want my customer to take?” Let’s say you had a free video tour on your website. You’ve noticed that whenever people watch the free tour they’re more apt to register. But the majority of people that visit your site don’t take the free tour.
You see where this is going don’t you? You need to make it very easy for your visitor to take the free tour. This means clean up all those other piles that get in their way.
But how are visitors going to know about all your other piles?
You just need to clean them up. Not get rid of them. You can move things to other pages. Or better still set up a sequence of actions. Once your visitors complete one task lead them to the next pile. This way no one’s brain gets confused.
And a brain that isn’t confused is a happy brain!
Keep things simple. And clean. The easier it is for your visitors to see what they should do, the more likely they are to do it.
Check your website now. I’m sure you can find a few things that don’t really need to be on the page. Clean up those piles. Then maybe you’ll have some other piles your brain won’t mind so much!
Ahh! Are those piles making it difficult to take action?

Do you find it hard to get anything done when there are piles of paperwork all over your workspace?

But what happens when you take a moment to clean things up?

Doesn’t your brain feel like it can breathe again? Like it can actually focus?

It’s not much different when a someone visits your website. Too many piles and their brain starts to hurt. They get confused. And then they’re not sure what to do.

So they don’t do much of anything.

But what if you clean up the piles?

Then people could focus without their brains bugging-out. They’d have a clearer idea of what they should do.

So how do you start cleaning up those piles? First we’ll need to know what those piles are.

What are the piles that confuse your visitors?

Anything that doesn’t move your customer toward taking one specific action. This could mean: unnecessary flash elements, rotating banners, unrelated pictures or trying to fit everything on your homepage. All of these elements lead to inaction.

Why do too many piles lead to inaction?

Because these piles start competing for people’s attention. There are too many choices so people just click away.

How do you keep people from clicking away?

Ask yourself one question, “What action do I want people to take?”

Let’s say you had a free video tour on your website. Whenever people watch the free tour they’re more apt to register. So you need to focus on making sure people take the free tour.

This means clean up all those other piles that get in their way.

But shouldn’t people know about those other piles too?

Sure. But think of it like a sequence of actions. Once people complete one task lead them to the next pile. Then no one’s brain bugs-out.

And that means a happy brain!

Keep things simple

And make sure the place is clean. =) Make it easy for people to do what you want them too.

Check your website now

Is there anything that doesn’t need to be on the page? Clean it up! Then maybe you’ll have some other piles your brain won’t mind so much!

Do you have any tips for making it clear what action people should take?

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