Stick to one thing per page
Even though there’s a whole list of things you could do to improve your website, one of the simplest is to improve singularity.
When you made your business website, you probably wrote lots of lovely words and accolades about you and your company. You filled up your website pages and ticked off the list.
Are those pages working hard for you now? They may be ticked off the list, but do they have enough focus to do their job?
Remember the film City Slickers? I know, it was a while back. Anyway, Curly (wise old cowboy) talks about the secret of life with Mitch (unhappy city boy), holding up one finger.
The finger meant “one thing”, and this reference has been used to make the point that singularity is good over and over ever since 1991.
Singularity is focus. Focus brings purpose and direction.
When you’re trying to get website visitors to do something, you need them to move with purpose and direction — it’s basic design methodology.
So therefore web pages are best when they’re only about one thing. It’s basic human nature, as we humans are programmed to make sense of what we’re looking at.
Website visitors are generally looking for something, so they need to understand the point of what they’re reading. Does it fit their needs or resonate with them, and most importantly how they should act if it does.
A page filled with information is unlikely to resonate with anyone and drive them to act. They need to make choices in order to get to the right information, not just be hit with all the information from the start.
Here’s an example.
Say you’re writing about your company’s services. Don’t create a page that talks about everything you can offer, in detail. No one can grasp all that at once, nor are they likely to act on any one of them.
Instead, aim to write a brief overview page with the sole purpose of showing the range of services you offer. That way visitors can make choices and decide if they need more information.
Each main service could then have it’s own sub page (if more detail us necessary), each designed to convert that visitor into a buyer, or get them act in some way (share the page, look further into your website, ask for more details, and so on).
