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Information Overload
Posted on November 30, 2010 at 10:10 am
There is a great quote in the Pixar movie, “The Incredibles”:
Mom: “Everyone’s special.”
Kid: “That’s the same as saying no one is.”When it comes to the real estate on a professional services or other B2B homepage, this couldn’t be more true. The more you allow people, industry groups or service areas to “feel important” by having a space on the homepage to push “products,” the harder it is to let your visitor see why they should work with you. It’s a fine line between branding and sales–you just need to know where to draw the line.
One way to do so is to think about website communications as a continuum. The best branding and the best homepages preview what you stand for and what it’s like to work with you. They don’t overwhelm or overcrowd the valuable real estate with news about the firm or individual offerings. Those important messages are best handled on interior practice or industry pages. So do your best to simplify the homepage and keep product pushers at bay, even the ones who truly believe they are special.
For more on web design best practices, including more tips for making the most of your homepage, see our latest Big Idea.
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Comment from Nanther Thangarajah December 2, 2010 at 1:12 pm
Seth Godin had a great post on this today about the “inevitable decline due to clutter.”
“Once you overload the user, you train them not to pay attention. … In fact, more clutter is a permanent shift, a desensitization to all the information, not just the last bit.”