Do not waste space on your website

A very large percentage of all websites waste a lot of potential by wasting space. They use prime positions to show content that gives them no return what so ever. You should make sure to remove all unproductive parts of your website and you should move necessary but unproductive content to less desirable real estate on your website.

Exactly how do this can differ from one website to another. Below we are going to look at some very common mistakes that you might be doing.

Sliders

A very large percentage of all websites using a slider near the top of their index page. They do this because they want to feature certain content and because they think it looks good. The truth is that sliders is a huge waste of time and they should almost never be used.

Most people who use sliders do it to feature what they believe to be their most important content. This makes sense in theory but does not work very good in practice. The reason for this is that sliders have a very low click through rate despite using the most premium real estate available on a website Above the fold on the index page. Most sliders has a click through rate of less then 1 %. Very few have more then 1.5%. This is extremely low considering the position of the slider.

A slider will provide very little benefit while occupying your most valuable position. It is a lot better to remove the slider and use that space to get the visitors attention in a way that is more likely to get them to perform a desired option.

Awards

It can be very nice to be awarded for your hard work and win an award for your website. It is also understandable that some website owners likes to feature their awards on their website. This is a complete waste of time unless the award is actually relevant for your business and awarded by a well known and respected organization.

awardOld awards should never be displayed. No one cares about that you won an award a few years ago and it can actually affect your business negatively to show the award because a lot of people will ask what have happened since then and why you haven’t won this year. Showing an award for the current year tells the visitors that you are the best option. Showing an old award shows that some one else is the best option now.

If you want to display your awards then I recommend that you do it on the about us page. Never on the index page or other important pages.

Visitors counters & Visitor maps

This is another feature that does nothing than stroking your ego while using valuable real estate. You should never display this information on your website. Visitor info is a business secret that you should keep private. By making the information public you give competitors valuable info that can help them decide whether they should compete with you or not.

Video backgrounds & videos that play automatically

Video backgrounds and any other video that plays automatically will cause a distraction and might cause the visitor to lose focus from the information you want them to focus on. It should never be used.