4 Tips to Remove Clutter From Website and Improve UX

Fortunately, the days of packing a website with images, random functions, and animations are (mostly) gone. In today’s environment, minimalism rules – and users expect an intuitive experience. As such, the question for many site owners is: How can I remove clutter from my website?Fortunately, there are a number of things you can do. For starters, you can remove anything on your website that does not serve a specific purpose. Next, there are several actions you can take to make your site as easy to navigate as possible.In this piece, we’ll discuss what we mean by a cluttered website and why decluttering matters. We’ll then offer some tips to remove clutter from your website to improve its overall user experience (UX). Let’s get to work! Too much clutter on your website can lead to a negative user experience (UX), which is obviously less than favorable. Users who are overwhelmed may not come back. Whats more, this can increase your bounce rates and ha mper conversions.Its easy to think of your website as a physical storefront. If its cluttered and messy, it will reflect on your business.On the other hand, a clean and fast presentation (such as Apples online and physical presence) can leave a positive impression. Users may find it easier to interact with a site that has as few distractions as possible. Simple navigation makes it easier to explore your content, follow your sales funnel, and click your call to action (CTA). By decluttering your website, you could see a boost to your conversion rates.How to remove clutter from your website (4 key tips)In short, removing clutter can improve your sites UX. With this in mind, lets discuss some actionable steps you can take to declutter your website!1. Do some spring cleaningIt may help to look at your websites cleanliness as you would your house. Spring cleaning sees you taking stock and getting rid of stuff you dont need or use anymore. You can do the same with your website. Just as yo u would with each room, go over every page of your site and remove unnecessary elements. Doing this can improve navigation, not to mention your websites performance.To begin, think about the purpose of your website and what you want visitors to do. Now, remove everything that does not serve this goal.  To help you better define the purpose of your site, consider if you are selling, educating, or engaging.  For example, if your goal is to get people to sign up for your newsletter, all content on your site should somehow point to your signup page.It may also help to cut down on the number of pages on your site, either by combining or getting rid of them altogether. Focus your website to do one thing well. Once youve done that, you can begin to look at other elements, such as your web links.2. Have a clear linking strategyIncluding both internal and external links on your website is an important strategy that improves search engine optimization (SEO).  However, too many links (es pecially external ones) can be distracting for users. Its important to analyze each link youre using and ask yourself what purpose it serves.A quality link that aligns with your goals is a keeper. If it doesnt, you may want to take it out. The objective here is not to have as many links as possible on your site, but to use them to enrich your content and add value.  Each link should have an obvious purpose, either by pointing the user to further information, answering a question, or offering a how-to guide to success.Internal links are especially important. In other words, links that connect to another page on your site. These types of links should be incorporated into your content as naturally as possible. For instance, Neil Patel recommends three to four internal links for each of your posts, depending on their length. Then, with your linking strategy  in place, you can start considering the real meat of your website: its content.3. Improve your content and site readabilityUnd erstandably, the reason users come to your site is for its content. After all, its how you hope to engage them and keep them coming back for more. As a result, if your content is difficult to read or not very interesting to your audience, users may not stay on your site —  which means they certainly wont convert.Quality content is always important. The right content that  employs solid SEO techniques  can make your site a destination for your audience. The important thing to remember is that you dont necessarily need a lot of content, as long as the quality is strong.In fact, underperforming content may be distracting from pieces that are most effective. It may help to remove what you dont need and make what you keep easy to read. Consider the flow of your entire site and get rid of the content that is dragging it down, which may just help with our final tip.4. Use more negative spaceThe Google homepage uses lots of negative space.Hopefully, at this point, after doing s ome spring cleaning, tightening your linking strategy, and removing unnecessary content, youll be better able to open your website up a bit and use more negative space. This design technique can do a lot to improve the quality of your site.Negative space helps draw attention to what matters most: your content.  When pages are too busy, users may not know where to focus their attention. You can help visitors to comfortably read everything on your site by including lots of open space between each element.Additionally, by using negative space, you can make it as easy as possible for users to find things on your site. After all, you want them to discover certain things, such as your CTA — why not make the process a simple one? In addition, you may help put users minds at ease as they are navigating.ConclusionRemoving clutter can help you to improve your websites performance and navigation. Using the techniques outlined in this article may make it easier for users to explore you r content, follow your sales funnel, and click your CTAs. As such, a relatively free approach such as this is well worth exploring.This piece has looked at four tips to help remove clutter from your website. Lets quickly recap them:Carry out some spring cleaning.Have a clear linking strategy.Improve your content and site readability.Use more negative space. Don't make your #website visitors fight through clutter 🠧 ¹ 4 tips to declutter your website âÅ" ¨ Click To Tweet Do you have any questions about how to declutter your website? 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