Web Design in Oklahoma City

This is part five in our series on "Getting results from your website." Other articles in the series include: "part one: the website hub," "part two: the impact of design," "part three: the need for do-it-yourself content tools," and "part four: the power of blogging." In this article, we're going to discuss the importance of keeping things as simple as possible on your website.

Don't try to do everything

Personally, I have a lot of experience with this one. I'm the type of person who wants to do it all. I also used to work in churches full-time, and the churches where I worked were the types that always wanted to do it all as well. So, I've learned first hand the downside of trying to do more on the web than you really need to do.

The problem with this type of technological ambition is that there is a cost (both time and money) involved in maintaining everything you develop on the web. Adding online stores, email marketing strategies, user forums, custom applications, social media integrations, and other online activities will increase the effort required to support and maintain your online presence. Certainly, we're not saying you should never utilize these tools. Sometimes they can provide great benefits. We simply believe you need to nail the basics of a website first and count the full cost of any "extras" you choose to add.

Focus first on what you need

This is why we're proponents of keeping things as simple as possible. There is a core set of "stuff" that most every website needs to do well. That's the basic stuff we're covering in this series — quality design, easy-to-manage content, online marketing and analytics (watch for future posts). Doing these things and doing them well will meet the web needs of the vast majority of small to medium businesses and organizations.

Beyond these basics, you need to count the cost and weigh it against the potential benefit of any additional online effort you're considering. In addition, you need to make sure you are nailing the basics before you attempt to branch out into larger and more complex things. Certainly, there are all kinds of possibilities and there are businesses who will benefit from additional online endeavors. That's great. The point here is just to keep things as simple as possible. Focus first on the basics and let things grow from there if needed.