Spring Cleaning for Your Website

One of the premier web usability books on the market today is abruptly titled, Don't Make Me Think. The premise of the book is based on the title. No surprise.

The author asserts that web users not only don't want to think, but that they won't. Your site's visitors will lose patience if they are made to work too hard.

With that said, we'd like to make a suggestion. Maybe it is time for a website "spring cleaning." There are certainly ways you can simplify your church website. Here are some suggested places to look for improvement:

Navigation

Can your menus be simpler? Are you using breadcrumbs and do they make sense to the user? Are items titled what people would expect, can they find items in the search? For most sites, each level of your menu should offer 4-7 options, does yours?

Combining/Splitting

Are there pages on your site that could be combined for simplicity? Are there items which would make sense as two items?

Highlights

Are you routinely using all five highlights? Depending on your site's size, this may or may not be appropriate. Bigger sites should probably use highlights as much as possible to help users get to information more easily. For smaller sites, don't allow highlights to clutter your site too much. Two or three highlights may be enough.

Purging

Are there items on your site that are out of date or just need to be refreshed? Is all your content relevant? Is your staff directory up-to-date? Are you using expiration dates?

As with any communication, try to put yourself in a visitor's shoes. Can they find what they want? Are they finding what they want with help from your site or in spite of it?