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mrcfoodsrvc
05-08-2014, 05:57 PM
Can I have a quick take on some pointers for our my website and for my blog? Would like help with color schemes, patterns, flow of how things are ordered on the site, ect. Our blog is here EasyBreathe.com Blog (http://www.easybreathe.com/blog/) and our site is here easybreathe.com

vangogh
05-09-2014, 02:48 AM
There's way too much going on with each page. I went to your blog first. It took me a few minutes to have any idea what you do. Based on the domain I would think your site has something to do with helping people breathe. Maybe it's about asthma or something similar. The first post I see is about the importance of CRAP batteries. I'll guess CRAP is some kind of device to help with breathing, but I don't know. I see batteries and device of some kind and I'm thinking tech blog.

Looking more I see articles about mold and losing weight and lots of mention of CRAP. Looking more I'm thinking the breathing isn't so much about asthma, but about sleep apnea. Granted someone who suffers from sleep apnea is probably familiar with all of this and wouldn't be as confused as me, but I would have been long gone before figuring it out.

Regardless of the terminology and my lack of knowing the terminology, there really is way too much on every page. It's confusing to look at. You want to simplify things. Each page should have more of a singular focus. Ask yourself what's the main thing you want people to do when they land on a page and then design the page to drive that action. You can add in a secondary action too, but beyond that you're trying to do too much.

There's a simple principle called the principle of choices. The more choices you give someone the less likely they'll choose anything. More choices only make it more difficult to decide. Here's an example of too much. On the main blog page you have social buttons below the read more link. Think about what you're doing. You're asking people to share your content on social networks before they've even read it. Why would someone do that?

There are other things that can be improved, but before any of them will really matter you need to ruthless remove things from your pages. I'd bet you can remove about 50% to 75% of what's on every page. You probably think I'm crazy suggesting you remove that much, but be ruthless. Figure out why each page on the site exists. What's it trying to do? What do you want people to do when the land on the page? Then focus the page.

One small tip. Don't put the link to your blog so close to your logo. No one is going to realize there are 2 links there. If I didn't know you had a blog in advance and I wasn't specifically looking for a link to the blog, I would never have found it. The link to the blog looks like part of your logo. If I click anywhere in that area I would expect to be taken to your home page, assuming I realized your logo might be a link.

Be ruthless and remove everything that isn't essential to the primary goal of each page.

KristineS
05-09-2014, 11:23 AM
Vangogh is right, the site is incredibly busy. I went to your home page and had a heck of a time finding the link back to the blog. I also understand and applaud your desire to connect with customers on social media, but there's so much happening that it kind of gets lost in the shuffle. Also, don't set the links so if you click you like or follow. Set the links so people can go to the page and make their own decision.

I would agree with Vangogh, the first thing you need to do is decide what you want each page to do and then get rid of the items on the page that don't meet your goal.