One of the “actions” I did in response to recession-slowdown was re-tool www.clear-writing.com. Nothing radical, mind you, but I spruced things up, change the messaging a little, and most importantly, I cut down my navigation by a third. I eliminated two links in the nav bar, and an entire set of sub-categories.

So far, I have noticed a marked increase in conversions - most of them coming after I chopped things up.

I have always somewhat suspected this - a smaller, more targeted site increases conversions. That’s because it’s easier to understand, easier to navigate, and doesn’t take too much thought. The more links you throw out there, the more choices you have, and then a web visitor becomes like my wife in one of those chain restaurants… completely lost in choice.

Really, while I sit there in Ruby Tuesday’s, having decided upon my meal (Cheeseburger*) in six seconds, my wife spends a good ten minutes debating nine different things. Then the server really messes my wife up when she says “what do you want to drink?”  At least here I can order my beer and tell the server to come back.

Anyway, my point is, if the menu was smaller, I could eat a LOT sooner. Oh, and your website… if your site is smaller and easier to navigate, it makes someone more likely to contact you.

I think one reason sites got so big is the SEO people told us to do that - more pages of “stuff” and the better you’ll rank. Maybe so, but smaller / easier = better conversion. I’ve seen proof, and am sold (but like I said, I always suspected this.) In regards to “lots of info” vs. “easy to navigate”, I’m going to start looking into ways to have my cake and eat it too (hey, I’m hungry - will you hurry up, Maryellen!!)

* It’s always a cheeseburger.

I’m sure I’ve written about this before - maybe here, maybe in an old blog, but it happened again today, so I need to mention it (and I will keep mentioning it until i change the world!) Apologoes in advance - this is a little “rantish”.

I hate it being implied that what I do is easy.

There are two ways this happens. One way is a client will say something like “oh, this should be an easy job for you” or “I’ve got an easy one for you“.

This may seem innocent, but I find it a little annoying. How do they know it’s an easy job? Because it almost always isn’t. Believe me, writing to get someone to click (or react) is hard. Sometimes, I’ve spent half a day on one page. Usually when someone says “this’ll be easy for you”, it’s a setup for “I’m not going to pay a lot for this”.

So please, do me and every other professional you deal with a favor - don’t tell them their job should be “easy”. Let them decide what’s easy, and what isn’t.

The other one that people sometimes use that somewhat discounts what I do is the old “well, I could write this myself, but I don’t have the time”.  I hear that one every so often.

Ummm, no Captain Marvelous, you probably couldn’t write this. That’s why you’re coming to me.  There’s no shame there - this is what I do.

You can say about your lawn guy “I’d cut it myself, but…” and I’ll believe you. But please, there’s no need to say to me “you know, I’m hiring you simply because I have no time“.  

I hire web designers because I can’t make websites. I have Jen do any graphic work for me because I suck at it. I hire a plumber because I have a 50% “it holds” ratio when I solder pipe (and you don’t find out if it holds until you turn on the water… which sucks when you’ve soldered 5 connections.) I don’t tell any of these people that what I need done is “easy”. And I certainly don’t say “I could do it myself, but…”

Anyway, that’s my little rant for today. Tomorrow, we’ll talk about “what part of 14 items or less don’t you understand?” 

On my old blog, I posted some stories about my old jobs and idiot bosses. I’ll bring them over here from time to time, because through them, you can see where I get my attitude regarding bosses and such, and why I choose to work for myself:

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Around 1994, I sold cars at this busy dealership. The sales manager was always setting sales goals, and they were always increasing. After awhile, he really started getting nuts with it. This one month, he set a goal for 200 cars. The dealership never sold 200 cars in a month, so he really pushed for this. He told us “come in on your day off, come in early, stay late, but we HAVE to beat 200!”

Well, I was young and dumb, so I bought into the BS. Like everyone else, I came in early, stayed late, and worked my day off. In fact, I worked 30 days in a row - we all did. And we sold 227 cars for the month!! Yay us!!

We got a nice catered lunch, and then we got down to business at the next sales meeting… this time it was “well, NOW we have to beat 227. So you need to come in early, stay late, and work your day off….”

At this point, sitting in the back of the meeting, I raised my hand. The sales manager says “what is it, Furman?” I replied, ever so meekly, “umm, when do we get to rest?”

Silence. Dead silence. Then, with a glare, my question was ignored.

Well, I stopped coming in early. And stopped staying late. And took my days off. I was fired about three weeks later because I wasn’t a “team player”.

Well, that’s because the team sucked.