In this blog post series, we’ll be exploring some beliefs surrounding websites and discussing whether they’re true or just common website myths. Today’s discussion topic? The more features you have on your website, the better!
Let’s Talk About It
There are hundreds of plugins available in the world of WordPress that can extend the features and functionality of your website. Need a contact form? No problem! Want to add animations? Absolutely! Looking to create a giveaway on your website? You guessed it – there’s a plugin for that.
But with all things in life, website features are good…up until a certain point. This is where “all things in moderation” comes into play. Just because we can add additional features doesn’t mean we necessarily should.
So what’s the problem with adding lots of features? Well, too many features can overwhelm your website visitor and confuse them as to where they should go and what they should do.
One of the best things you can do on your website is determine a clear CTA (call-to-action). This is some sort of action you want your website visitor to take while they’re on your website. For instance, you may want them to sign up for your newsletter, subscribe to your blog, purchase one of your courses, or contact you about your services. Whatever action step you want your website visitor to take needs to be clear and prominent. But if your CTA is buried amidst numerous features and bells and whistles, it can be distracting and difficult for your website visitor to know what to do.
There’s something to be said for keeping things simple and streamlined. If you take the time to make your website clean and easy to navigate, you’ll make the user experience that much better for your website visitors – and that’s something everyone wants.
That being said, you don’t have to strip away every website feature and leave only a bare bones website. So, how do you decide if a feature is worth adding or not?
So Many Decisions
There’s no perfect science when it comes to deciding whether or not to add a specific feature to your website. That being said, there are a few questions you can ask yourself that may be helpful. Consider asking yourself questions such as:
- Is this feature necessary?
- What does this feature accomplish? How does this further my website goals?
- Does this feature help bring clarity and simplicity to my website or does it risk distracting my website visitor from my CTA?
- If I didn’t add this feature, would my website suffer? How so?
By asking yourself questions similar to the ones above, you can gain clarity on whether a particular website feature is wise to add.
Again, there’s no perfect science here. One of the beautiful things about a website is that it’s fluid. You can make changes to it any time, so if you add a website feature and later realize it’s not accomplishing what you had hoped, you can easily remedy the situation.
What’s the Verdict?
So, is it true that the more features you add to your website, the better? I’d say that this is false. Again, website features are great additions up until a certain point. But once features begin distracting visitors from your website’s main message, mission, and CTA, that’s a sign that it’s time to start simplifying and streamlining.