Klassen Communications Blog

That’s right…I used the word “yucky” and I’m proud of it. As easily as I can write these blog entries, coming up with titles drives me nuts. The writer part of me keeps thinking it has to be a title that will cause a non-regular reader to want to read what I’ve written. (I wonder if “yucky” is a popular Google search word. But I digress.)

In an earlier blog entry, I talked about one of the things I see from time-to-time on some freelance websites that I think can cause trouble. Today, another problem area: websites that are too overwhelming with information. (That makes them yucky.)

Earlier this year, I looked at someone’s website and was struck by how much information the person was trying to provide. I wouldn’t have been surprised if there was a link called “Kitchen Sink” because it seemed he threw just about everything including the kitchen sink into his site.

Now only he knows best if all that information is truly necessary. Certainly the navigational structure was a mess…it really wasn’t clear where you were supposed to go to access the sublevels of the site, of which there were many.

When designing your own site, I think you have to base the design on a a couple of questions:

1. What do you want someone to do once they’re at your site? Seriously, if you’re a freelancer, what do you want them to do? Call you? E-mail you? Is it clear to the visitor what they’re supposed to do?

I may have told this story before, but I was once talking with a website specialist who asked me what I wanted people to do when they visited my site. One of the things I said was that I wanted people to call me. His response was along the lines of, “Then why don’t you have your phone number on your homepage?” It was on my contact page, but his point was that if a person only looks at your landing page, will it be enough for a visitor to do what you want them to do? Make it as easy as possible for them.

2. Does the information throughout the site help the visitor in accomplishiing the goal you set in step #1? In my mind, if the information isn’t clearly helping you, it’s hurting you. Potential clients don’t have time to separate the useful from the non-useful, so while it might be nice that you live alone with your cat, Snicker-Doodle, is it really so important to mention it on the site that attempts to sell your services? I would argue that it isn’t.

“But what about showing my personality so I stand out from the crowd?”, I hear you say. First, I’m not against showing your personality on your website. But there’s a big difference between showing your personality and telling things about yourself that says nothing about your qualifications.

And if you want to show your personality, start a blog or a newsletter. For example, regular readers of this blog can figure out quite a bit about my personality. But when clients are in a hurry to find someone to do a job, they want to get to the facts that will help them decide if you’re up to the task. And quite a lot of the personal info I see on many freelancer’s sites get in the way of that.

While I think my website accomplishes the goals I’ve set for it, I’m going to point you to one of the best freelance websites I’ve run across. It’s the site of Eileen Coale of Coale Communications. (You could even say it’s not yucky.)

I’ve loved Eileen’s site since I started my freelance career as a writer some years back. It has a clean layout. It uses colors I don’t often see, so it stands out visually. It keeps the content simple so you’re not overwhelmed with information.

Eileen’s “About” section is a masterpiece. It manages to make it clear that writing is her thing, while being entertaining and *gasp* showing personality.

In a nutshell, a potential client visiting her site can easily determine if Eileen is worth a phone call because she’s keeping things simple and not trying to cram every last bit of information down everyone’s throats.

Now, Eileen will be the first to tell you that she didn’t design the site. (A link to the designer is on her landing page.) But credit Eileen for investing the money to make sure the first impression people have of her (at least on the Internet) is as solid as it can be.

Can the same be said about your website?