How to Build a Better Website
I enjoyed reading this book, because it gave me a lot of good advice for my blogging website, it answered some of the questions I had about what makes a good book. Most people who go on a website are just looking for what they need, and if you make things to complicated they get confused. In the first chapter, author Steve Krug writes exactly that. Most people don't want to have to go online, and go through the process of figuring out how to work the website before even getting to what their looking for/what they actually need to do. The BBC says the average attention span is about eight seconds; this means that if you make it complicated, website-users are bound to leave the site. You want to make sure your website is easy, and just a few clicks (maybe two-three, or four at most) before getting to what they need.
On the topic of making it easy, keep your writing simple; omit needless words! Don't put big words in your website because most likely, people may not know it and will not bother to look it up. Keep your writing on your blog simple, and to the point.
My favorite chapter in the whole book is "Animal, Vegetable or Mineral?" because if you can't avoid making something simple, Krug explains how you can go out of your way to give them as much guidance as possible. He writes that the best guidance works best when it’s...
1) Brief: The smallest amount of information that will help me
2) Timely: Placed so I encounter it exactly when I need it
3) Unavoidable: Formatted in a way that ensures that I’ll notice it
Also, giving examples is a good way to go as well. After all, you do want people to keep coming back to your website!
Based on what the book has taught me, I think what makes a good website is a variety of things: if you have a blog, a professional website or if it's a news outlet, you always want to make sure you have a good headline and lead sentence. You want something that is going to get your readers attention fast, and keep them reading the whole article or blog post. Make sure it's not a clickbait title though, because you don't want people thinking it's one thing, and it's actually something completely different. Always be consistent with your post, you should be posting at least once a week and you want to post on the same day each week because it will incline your readers to come back because they know something is posted for them, and they have something to look forward to each week.
I think some other good tips are to have various social media accounts to promote your website, and keep your private life separate from your professional accounts. You don't want to have the two intervening - this sometimes can get people confused. It's also a big part in building your brand.
As Krug puts it, everyone faces many choices on the web and making those choices should be mindless. It's probably one of the most important things you'll do in making your website easy to use.
On the topic of making it easy, keep your writing simple; omit needless words! Don't put big words in your website because most likely, people may not know it and will not bother to look it up. Keep your writing on your blog simple, and to the point.
My favorite chapter in the whole book is "Animal, Vegetable or Mineral?" because if you can't avoid making something simple, Krug explains how you can go out of your way to give them as much guidance as possible. He writes that the best guidance works best when it’s...
1) Brief: The smallest amount of information that will help me
2) Timely: Placed so I encounter it exactly when I need it
3) Unavoidable: Formatted in a way that ensures that I’ll notice it
Also, giving examples is a good way to go as well. After all, you do want people to keep coming back to your website!
Based on what the book has taught me, I think what makes a good website is a variety of things: if you have a blog, a professional website or if it's a news outlet, you always want to make sure you have a good headline and lead sentence. You want something that is going to get your readers attention fast, and keep them reading the whole article or blog post. Make sure it's not a clickbait title though, because you don't want people thinking it's one thing, and it's actually something completely different. Always be consistent with your post, you should be posting at least once a week and you want to post on the same day each week because it will incline your readers to come back because they know something is posted for them, and they have something to look forward to each week.
I think some other good tips are to have various social media accounts to promote your website, and keep your private life separate from your professional accounts. You don't want to have the two intervening - this sometimes can get people confused. It's also a big part in building your brand.
As Krug puts it, everyone faces many choices on the web and making those choices should be mindless. It's probably one of the most important things you'll do in making your website easy to use.
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