So many designers try to show off their skills when they build a website. This can lead to heavy / over loaded sites. Depending on the industry and client base, this can be OK. But it can also turn potential clients away.

Clean and simple sites can be quite boring. Unless, you make the experience worthwhile. The balance of simplicity and information is a lot more difficult than it sounds. It can actually be harder to build a good simple site than a gaudy overdone site. The ratio of content to design is very important. Although content is king, it can also be a killer.

Too much text!

If a person visits a site looking for a product, and finds paragraph after paragraph of text… most will get turned off. Unless you are a newspaper or an online library, even then… who wants to read through a bunch of unwanted text to get where they are going? Nobody, that’s who. People don’t want to have to learn how to use your site; they just want to use it. So why not make it easy for them? A good example of clean and operational is http://www.hulu.com. They have a real good balance of information and imagery. It also works quite well on mobile devices.

Straight forward and to the point…

The easier you can make your site to navigate, the more enjoyable the experience will be for them. You will notice repeat visitors and an increase in sales if it’s done right. People like to be entertained as well when they visit a site. That being said… you don’t need to have a big flashy slideshow, or maybe you do. The design pieces of your site should be relevant to your business. Use graphics to tease and excite your visitors, not to hit them over the head with your design skills. Remember to try throttling back on how flashy you think you need your site. This will also make for easier browsing on mobile devices. The cleaner and lighter your site is, the less chance of mobile failure there will be.

Build your site in a simple manner and get it working the way you want before you make it look pretty. Have some people you know look at the site at different stages. Gather their input and combine that with Web Design Standards and see where you end up. Even though it may not match the Grand Idea you have in your head, it may work a lot better. After all, it’s about results!