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Published by: Judy Cobb 01-29-2013  |  POSTED IN: Traffic Tuesdays

Words Blog 13: Avoid the Blobs!

 
It's the end of January, and the Chinese New Year is almost here. That means we are probably out of time for New Year's resolutions and new beginnings. Before letting the 2013 move further on, here's a resolution for your website: Avoid the BLOBS!
 
What are the blobs, why should you avoid them and what can you do about them?
 
The blobs are large blocks of text, long menus or extended pages that require people to scroll down, down and down to find what they want. Any one of these "blobs" can cause your website visitor to leave your site in nanoseconds. A combination of these features is deadly.
 
Here is an example of a "blob" of text. In this case, the text may seem less daunting because the type size is small: 7.5. However, the combination of dense text and small type pretty much guarantees that a visitor will not take the time to read it.
 

 
Editing and using bullets, combined with an increase in type size can greatly improve the chance that someone will actually read what it says. The revision might look something like this.
 

 
This "blob" shows a huge list of menu selections an accounting firm has running down the left margin of its web page. 
 
Welcome
Firm Profile
Services
Quickbooks
Tax Forms & Publications
Oracle Small Business
Calculators
Client Portal 
Daily News
Tax Due Dates
Tax Rates
Tax Forms and Publications
Newsletter
Free Reports
Tax Organizer
Search
Internet Links
Online Tax Organizer
Contact Us
 
These menu selections are too long and include items like the tax services that could be presented together on a new page. Some items also seem redundant. For example, what is the difference between the tax organizer and the online tax organizer? 
 
Many websites include their "Search" feature at the top of their page where it is easy for visitors to find and use it. Putting the Search feature there would eliminate it from this shopping list of menu selections.
 
There are a couple of possible strategies to turn this "blob" into a useful list of destinations on the website.
 
The first strategy is to bundle related items like the tax services together with a link to a second page that describes each service:
 
Welcome
Firm Profile
Tax Services
Tools (Quickbooks, Calculators, Oracle Small Business)
Client Portal 
News (Newsletter & Daily News)
Free Reports
Search
Contact Us
 
Many websites today offer columns of menu selections at the bottom of their home page. This website could also adopt that strategy with a list like this on the home page. Basic pages like Welcome, Firm Profile, Search, and Contact Us could remain as a left-side menu selection.
 

 
Blobs can turn up anywhere on your website, and are guaranteed to get in the way of visitors who are trying to find information. They need not be as long or as challenging as these examples. Any time a list gets to be ten or more items, it is probably too long.
 
Any text that is longer than a few lines is also likely to deter readers. It is better to break text into smaller chunks than to try to say too much at once.
 
Be on the lookout for areas of your website that can be streamlined and pared down. It will pay off in better retention and future business.
 
We haven't forgotten about Google Analytics and ways to evaluate the effectiveness of your website. Stay tuned to this blog for more on those topics.

You can help us assure that every blog post in this series provides you with tangible suggestions and ideas for building or improving your website. Please share your ideas, comments, questions and suggestions with us. Feel free to leave comments below or to email Judy at [email protected].
 
Judy Cobb is an independent writer and business writing coach whose clients have included Parsons Engineering, Mattel Toys, The Los Angeles Times and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She has specialized in developing training materials for instructor-led courses as well as interactive online courses and websites. She holds advanced degrees from Columbia University and Stanford as well as an MBA from UCLA's Anderson Graduate School of Management.
Thanks for reading. Jason.
P.S. Don't forget to subscribe below to this blog.
 
About Jason Ciment
Formerly an attorney and CPA, Jason has been working online since 1997. His columns on affiliate marketing can still be found on www.Clickz.com and his book on search engine optimization can be found at www.seotimetable.com.

This blog is published 4x per week and covers website design and SEO tips as well as a wide range of tips and advice for working and living online more efficiently and enjoyably.
 

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