How to Attempt to Tidy Your Site
Written by Nile | Posted in Web Design | Posted on 
12-02-2012 | 
50 Comments
Tags: blogging, web design tips, website tips, whitespace
Have you ever been told that your site was very cluttered? What does that mean? Does it mean you have too many graphics or it just seems everything runs into each other. A website almost seems as if talking about a bedroom. Indeed, a website can be compared in some ways to your bedroom. It is your place online and you are letting people in to see it. So think about it: Do you want people to see your messy room?
Now, when tidying up your site, it boils down to harnessing the whitespace and filling it in a way that is not cluttered of disorganized. Now, you do not have to totally sacrifice design. You do have to consider what items could either be removed, or what items can be moved to its own page. Organization is extremely important.
Below are just some pointers when it comes time to clean your site up.
- You do not have to put every social site account you belong to.
- You also do not have to put your link exchange buttons to friends sites. Put their text link instead on a special page or put a blogroll for your sidebar.
- You do not have put put all your information about yourself on the sidebar. You can focus on putting that on the about page .
- Divide your site into the specific categories or page sections which are more relevant to your site. If you have a lot of visitor items, a long page that is named ‘visitor’ containing every single item can be daunting to your audience. Also the title is very vague. Make it unique.
- Make sure to hook yourself up with a sitemap. A sitemap will list all your pages and posts in case they cannot find what they are looking for by normal means (ex. through your site search bar, or your navigation)
Of course, in the end, make sure your site is how you want it to be. Just like a bedroom, you control your site’s look.
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I try and keep all of these things in mind, especially when designing a new theme. Every time I upate something is getting cut or moved to another location. Thanks for the tips!
Whenever I stop by a cluttered page, or a page that automatically loads music, or really super blinky and colorful, I just close the window immediately. Your post will help those in need ^_^
Cheers! Happy belated New Year!
Destiny’s last blog post..A Long Awaited Coming
Sometimes I do that, but if the site has some useful material, I might shoot some helpful hints. I really hate to leave a webmaster hanging who has great potential but not a direction yet to follow.
RT @tweetmeme How to Attempt to Tidy Your Site http://cli.gs/WE2LR3
Just like the others I easily got annoyed with cluttered and taking forever to load webpage, so I close it without reading anything. Thanks for the tips Nile.
matt recently posted..Temple Run Cheats to have 12 Million score
Twitter: twitter
says:
Hi Nile, Nathan here.
First off, I love your logo with the pink Stratocaster!
I just started blogging again, and I know my page will get cluttered soon as I’ll probably try to jam too much stuff on it.
I’ll make sure I come back here to get a reminder of what NOT to do
Thanks for sharing your expertise!
Nathan
Nathan Gurley recently posted..Krewe of Alla
This is very helpful…Thanks a lot for sharing it to us here then…
Janna recently posted..Article Writing Tools Review
Twitter: lynnjonesie
says:
I really like the way you compared our site to our bedroom. It helps me look at my page in a different light. I know there are some thing I need/want to change on my blog, but I am almost afraid to start moving and changing things in case I mess something up. You have a very nice page.
One thing I find annoying when I click on someones link is those drop down windows that want you to sign up for something. Go away!
Great points! I’ll have to get brave and try and make some changes.
Lynn
Lynn Jones recently posted..The “It’s All About GrAtitude” Project
“You do not have to put every social site account you belong to.”- couldn’t agree with you more on that. When i see pages which has the icons of all possible social networking sites in one page asking us to follow them or post comment via them,i feel like asking them are u seriously expecting us to do that people.
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I was very encouraged to find this site. I wanted to thank you for this special read. I definitely savored every little bit of it and I have bookmarked you to check out new stuff you post.
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Twitter: wpbloggers
says:
Very nice tips, Nile. especially about don’t put every social site account you belong to, I only listed my Facebook, Twitter and Google+ profile on my site
Jenni recently posted..How You Can Build a Successful Foundation for Affiliate Marketing
Twitter: LindaCampb80
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Remove excessive ads. I find that those “pesky” ads perhaps the biggest distraction for my readers.
Linda Campbell recently posted..Gum Disease Awareness
Your post is packed with great information, Nile. Your tips are very useful in making you site tidier enough. Yes I do agree on this one. The tidier it is the more productive you are. Lots of readers irritates it point and click methods in promoting ads. Those tactics of the admin are very irritating.
Lovely tips, its always hard to ‘tidy’ up my site. This article of course helps me alot. Thanks again.
Kristeen recently posted..conference call
Thanks for the tips. I’ve been trying to find ways to tidy up my site, so I’ll give these a try.
Kyle recently posted..Another Amazing GRAMMY Weekend in the Books!
Twitter: missasma
says:
Tidy is most useful as a first-pass for helping to fix bad HTML. It is highly recommended for when you have to deal with a truly awful mess. As a secondary benefit, it issues a number useful diagnostics that can help you fix a page yourself.
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Twitter: shawlee54
says:
Thank You Niles
I really like your sight,Not so sure about mine. What is a sitemap?
Thank You I guess I better clean house
Sharon
Twitter: natashanassar
says:
Such an important lesson here Nile!
In a webinar I teach on the 12 Elements of a Successful Blog, one of the biggest elements that I discuss is the necessity to keep your blog “clutter free” . I always give the analogy of a customer walking into 2 stores.
one is neatly organized, and you can easily find what you’re looking for. The other has a heap of clothes in the middle of the floor. Which offers the better experience for the customer?
There’s nothing more frustrating that a cluttered blog. In fact, I just saw one lady’s blog that was featured on Yahoo this weekend. This Mom-Preneur. Her blog was a wreck- I thought to myself…what a waste of some awesome traffic.
Her colors made the blog hard to read, and the sidebars were so cluttered, I got a headache and left!
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Twitter: SrinivasYReddy
says:
I’m a minimalist at heart, Nile. So I couldn’t agree more. I can’t stand clutter, be it in a room at home or on a webpage. Towards this end, I always lean towards “less is more.”
While you want your site to be attractive and have a distinctive look, why fill it up with so much stuff that you can’t even see the whitespace anymore. As a Zen master would say, “Let the wind flow between your branches of your tree so you can see the sky… and so your branches will stand out in all their beauty.”
Srinivas Reddy | Ask Sage recently posted..The Power Of Habit
Twitter: kyleafterhs
says:
Very good point about comparing your website to your room. I believe that the most important part is to make it easy to read and find the content that you’re looking for. Having a unique design to stand out and catch the eye is also important.
With that being said, I think that you have a really good looking website. I’ll have to browse around a little more to find some more tips.
Thanks for the useful post,
Kyle
Kyle Quinlan recently posted..Don’t Take This Personally But…
Twitter: edytazabielska
says:
Hi Nile,
Thanks for very interesting tips.
I agree with you that the organization of our website is very important. I would compare my blog to living room where I invite my visitors.
Edyta recently posted..Does Panic Away Work? An Honest and Unbiased Panic Away Review
Thanks for the helpful tips. Gonna use these tips to clean up my blog:).
Chee Wei Nen recently posted..An Honest Grow Taller 4 Idiots Review
Niles,
I tend to think that people with simple and clean sites know what they are up to, they are focused. Those with cluttered sites tend to leave me feeling they are scattered and desperate.
Before I go too much further down this rabbit hole, let me go look objectively at my blog site to see how I leave myself. LOL
Thanks for the heads up!
RICK
Rick Lelchuk recently posted..We’re Certified! And, That’s a Big Deal!
Twitter: matthewkinsella
says:
I think you have to be brutal with this otherwise if you are like me you want to keep everything on the homepage and sidebar but you are right, it’s important to de clutter.
Matt Kinsella recently posted..How To Change Your Life In One Simple Step
Nile,
Thanks for the basics on decluttering your site. With so many options available on a wordpress blog, so many people want to include everything.
Jack recently posted..How to Begin Trading Forex
Twitter: yboggledeals
says:
I enjoy to see your picture, it is awesome ! I was not sure if I should include every social media I belong to, every aspect of my life, every business I have done in the past. Great tips to keep it simple and help people engage better.
alicia recently posted..Comment on yBoggle Travel by Benefiting From Discount Cruise Prices | Article Shop
Twitter: afterbreakingup
says:
Great advice. I think I am guilt of presenting too much information on my home page. I started this website as an information site only with articles closely related to the topic. From very humble daily visitors, the site now brings in many more than I had expected and now I am afraid to trim down the home page for fear that the search engines will no approve. It’s probably paranoia but…
Stevie recently posted..Catch Him And Keep Him
It is really important to consider the look of your site because it is first seen by the audience. Simple and clean looking site is more attractive.
Shameka Hennagir recently posted..Timber Doors
Twitter: KevinMartineau
says:
Hi Nile:
Finding the balance can be extremely difficult at times. You don’t want too much and you don’t want too little. For me, the key to this balance is loading time. Trying to keep things fast is always the best all around.
Kevin
Kevin Martineau recently posted..Decluttering life
Twitter: ForteProperties
says:
I do a minor site redesign once every few months and each time I manage to remove a little bit here and there. Clean is always better!
Chris recently posted..Tips on Finding Owner Financed Homes Austin
I’m no web-designer, but yeah, I think that a lot of blogs – especially corporate ones – are trying to be too clever with their design choices (tech blog theverge being a perfect example; it’s just horrible navigation-wise.) I mean, too much everything. I think that design doesn’t have to be cool or hip or anything like that: it just needs to be functional. Of course, it being aesthetic at the same time wouldn’t hurt.
William recently posted..88 – Drop on by
Hello Niles, great analogy for a website. I wouldn’t like to see some websites if they were the same as a bedroom. Your blog is VERY well laid out Niles, I love the way you’ve put so many things within the banner at the top. They are easy to see, yet you still have plenty of space around them, and they don’t clutter up the sidebars.
Regards from Julieanne
Julieanne van Zyl recently posted..Why a Blog is one of your Best Network Marketing Tools – Updating Content is simple and easy
Thanks for the tips. I like an uncluttered site. Every time I feel it’s getting cluttered I reassess things and decide what needs to go. It also helps the load time.
Melodie Kantner recently posted..Have You Heard About The Home Business Radio Network?
Thanks, Niles for the infor. It is nice to have colorful websites, but we also need to ensure that these should never distract the users. A simple yet elegant website will do especially if customers find everything they need. This is a sure smash for the business!
Not everybody is going to be in the marketing business, that is a given. One thing we can borrow from that industry though is clarity of thought. When someone comes to your blog, what action do you want them to take?
Are you wanting them to read you post? Are you wanting them to connect with you on Facebook or Twitter? Are you looking for them to check out a product that you are trying to promote?
If you have too many options on your blog, they won’t do anything. Yes, you may have friends that are going visit. If you are actively promoting your blog, people will visit. Will they come back? That depends on you.
Matt recently posted..Secrets Huatulco: Where to go to get Pampered
Love this article! Thank you for sharing the tips how can I tidy my site. This is very helpful..
Guia recently posted..movers Arlington
Nice list to tidy my blog. thanks a lot some of the tips are really helpfull.Will follow them asap.
At first my site is so untidy with clutters spaces around, a very waste of valuable space. Now, it is no longer as untidy as before and this post help a lot. I try again to figure out to tidy my site with guide presented on this post.
Jean recently posted..Bosch Stackable Washer Dryer
Twitter: allierambles
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If I can add (and this is from experience AND I need to clean this): You don’t need to keep all the images from awards you received and blogs you been featured in on your homepage. This slows it down and just clutters.
Allie recently posted..Blogging Success: Failure Is Success
Twitter: thespotter
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Sometime simply evaluating your stats and seeing which pages on your blog have the biggest bounce rate can give you an idea on specific areas of your blog that might need some tidying up
Alex Sysoef recently posted..WordPress Hack Attack Against Login Increase
Great Advice! If I go to a website I want to see the relevant information presented i a concise manner; too much non-sense and I am leaving immediately.
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Twitter: SadieMHarris
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Hello Nile,
I know exactly the type of site you mean. Wow ..you should see that of France Telecom’s Orange for a communications company I have never seem such a terrible example of a confusing site. There are pops ups, flash adverts and vast amounts of broken links, umpteen calls to action an most pages …. it’s a truly grim experience!
sadie-Michaela Harris recently posted..Visible Marketing Seth Godin says Weird is Good
Awesome Post
Its Really Helps Everyone & Most Helpful for me, i really needs that types of Knowledge 
Thanks for sharing 
Lee recently posted..Changi Airport Singapore
Thanks Nile. These tips are very useful. I have seen some sites that have too much going on in one page and can’t help but to think of what you said about a cluttered bedroom. Yes, your site is a reflection of you or your business, so you don’t want others to think that you are disorganized. Great post!
Hi Nile.
Really nice and informative post to design a website. I see many website that put to much stuff on their pages. They think it makes website attractive but actually it annoy the visitors. So i suggest those to follow these tips that you mention.
Thanks a lot for sharing.
Twitter: steveborgman
says:
I like what you said about putting link exchange sites on a different page. That’s something I need to think about more clearly for one of my sites. You model a beautiful site here, that’s for sure
Steve Borgman recently posted..10 Acts of Kindness To Change the World
Twitter: nickty008
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Hi webmaster i am gonna ask you question got right answer. I’m getting lots of comments in my three WordPress blog but i don’t have times to make them approve one by one for 20 comments once.
Do you know any shortcuts to do this task.
Nick | ogden auto insurance recently posted..Hlw
Do you have any plugins for spam like Akismet or GASP? There really are not shortcuts to manage comments unless you select all comments in your WordPress backend and then unselect the few that are not spam, and then you can delete them.
Great points! I’ll have to get brave and try and make some changes.
Ya its realy help to me…I know there are some thing I need/want to change on my blog, but I am almost afraid to start moving and changing things in case I mess something up. Thank you..
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