Simplicity Is Essential
Google search is simple.
So is McDonald’s.
TechCrunch? Simple.
The iPod? Simplicity at its best.
Seth Godin’s books? Simple, carrying one central and clear idea.
Twitter? Pretty simple.
As you can see, most successful web services, businesses, blogs, products and books are simple.
What about you, are you simplifying things or rather making them complicated?
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48 Responses to “Simplicity Is Essential”
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I do enjoy this shorter more to the point posts sometimes, especially when they convey a simple
message like this one.
I agree with you that the most successfull businesses online or offline make things simple for the customers/clients.
I think blogs are quite simple anyways however problems with the structure of a blog could mess this up I suppose.
Good point.
Hi Daniel,
I agree with you, keeping things simple is very important when it comes to success.
In 95% of the cases what keeps people from achieving what they want is that they complicate everything from the very beginning.
They think too much and have always the ‘but’ in mind… When you remove the ‘but’ from your thinking process you achieve things faster and better.
When it comes to online business it is the same. Everyday I see people complaining because their squeeze pages are not converting.
When I take a look at them I see they have lot of things on them, in most cases unrelated things.
If you keep your squeeze page simple, straight and to the point I can assure that you’ll have a high conversion rate.
Yes, simplicity is essential.
Thanks,
^PV Reymond
I am trying as hard as possible to simplify things. I change my template to more clear design.
Its hard to put forward an idea epscially when it comes with regards to health , but i am trying to put it as simple as possible . Headings are what people would look at it and thus that’s my first way of catching attention of my blog readers.
Regards
Sudeep
@SEO Tips, I don’t think blogs are simple per se. A simple blog is one that has a clear goal, and that implements simple actions to achieve that goal.
I don’t see most blogs having that. Many lack a goal (i.e. the blogger does not know what he is trying to accomplish or where he wants to arrive), others get dispersed on the execution part and so on.
Agreeable! but I gotta think first if Techcrunch falls into that category…
@Melvin, I can summarize TechCrunch in 3 words: “Web 2.0 News”. That is pretty simple in my opinion
.
Tech Crunch is not simple, they write much less about startups, they write about off topic stuff like “shaking hands”, they syndicate content from their other sites … not simplest blog out there.
I was just looking for a good blog which writes about new startups because Tech Crunch is getting on my nerves lately, any help ?
And I agree about the statement, what I have learned is that when you are starting new site – go simple, don’t confuse readers, don’t make them think what to do on your site because it seems that there are 100 things they can do. Make their user experience simple and useful and they will come back.
Addition:
Design of Daniel’s Blog: Simple
I simply agree with your Simple theorem.
I agree, simple make people enjoy to stay on our blog pages. Simple is universal.
@Daniel. Perhaps I misinterpreted what you was trying to say here. I thought you was talking more about the simplicity of using these websites, such as the Google search, Ipod and Twitter.
However I realise you meant the actual function and goal that these websites have.
With that in mind I do believe many bloggers do not have a clear perspective of what they want to achieve with their blog however this comes back to the whole reason a person starts a blog and the goals they have establisher for a blog.
I believe if a blogger does not have a clear goal in mind when establishing there blog and several clear motivators highlighted then they are doomed to fail from the beginning. I would also like to make the point of blogging with a mindset to make money is the biggest mistake a blogger could probably make.
valid points. I think the simplicity allows users to feel in control of something which is starkly different from most peoples daily hectic lives.
@SEO Tips, both of those aspects need simplicity, yeah.
Yes, McDonalds is simple. Very simple. It tastes good and it kills you. Yet despite this simplicity, millions of people still eat it every day.
In regard to blogging, I find that as I spend more time doing it, my message becomes more concise and straight forward. I’m willing to bet that many other bloggers experience this well and find it to be an important aspect of achieving success.
I’m a big fan of simplicity in all aspect of life and blogging. Blogs posts should be simple to the point, blog design should be simple and uncluttered, blogging tools you use should be simple and easy to use. Less is more – Apple proved that.
Again this points to Niche Blogging it seems, at least from a Bloggers perspective..
And that explains why the Thesis Theme is catching up pretty fast
I get the point & agree with concept … I think. I do tend to write pretty lengthy posts (more like articles) and struggle with how to provide enough, yet not too much info, to my home owners who are researching a project.
I love your google example as it’s simple to create & refine your search, but the user still has to crawl through 10/more links to find the 2 or 3 that offer valuable information.
I have actually been making things more and more simple with each new website I create. I started doing this after John Reese talked about it in one of his Reese Reports (which he no longer puts out).
It’s fantastic advice.
Absolutely spot on Daniel. I believe in “simplicity as a strategy” — Google that
Facebook – complicated
Etc. There is not only one way to success, keeping it simple requires less effort though.
It doesn’t get much simpler than my site: amusing pictures of rabbits.
Sometimes I feel like its not complex enough but at least I have a clear theme.
I have always liked the simplicity of dailyblogtips. It clearly delivers the advice it seeks to give via the categories and top posts list.
Another great simplistic site that I really like is 101cookbooks.com.
I love the simplicity of this blogpost (and the blog in its whole)!
I’ll try to be simple soon as before I thought readers will take more time on my blog if the post is lengthy enough but then I think it is wrong. The shorter is better so that reader could make a conclusion in their mind to be written as a comment.
I am always simple. This is really a good post.
Simplicity is my middle name, but the little red devil on my shoulder always makes things complicated.
But seriously, I always start simple, I have a clear plan (or I think I do), but along the way I get new ideas (maybe I’ll add this plugin too, and that, and those 5 I definately need) or get distracted, like spend 4 hours on .php coding a feature which is so complicated I don’t want to use it when I got done.
So simple is good, I always enjoy simple things, but in the end make them too complicated. Like this comment
Oh well, back to the drawing board.
I just wish I knew where I was going with my blogs. Everytime I see a bandwagon I try to jump aboard only to find that I don’t really enjoy what I am blogging about.
Simple is most definately going to be my new mantra.
I do make my blog simple and easy to understand for readers.
Customers, readers appreciate the simplicity…but Google make the difference!
I find that I always add pages and pages to any website that I create, and then I eventually start taking away parts so that it becomes simpler! I believe simplicity is essential but I can never start with simplicity without feeling that I’m not giving enough!
Yes, this is what I have said for years. Less is More in some cases. When gathering information you want it to be simple.
K.I.S.S =
Keep
It
Simple
Stupid
simplity is always a very important aspect for seo.
thanks for your advice~
You speak out your whole idea in just few words about simplicity its very simple manner but effective as well.
So True! I learnt it the hard way but simplicity simply rocks.
Things are simple initially, we make them so complicated after a while. And then we realize that the simplicity was actually the better approach. Facebook is a perfect example!
sweet and short post!
Oh!what i will say. The tips just imagine.
Well said, Simplicity is the Fashion that Never Ends !!
Still impressing to hear this simplicity all about these years. Great stones up there:)
Yeah, this is why niche marketing is so successful. Focusing on one thing simple enough to achieve success. Stupid man makes simple thing complicated, wise man makes complicated thing simple, this is the difference between success and failure.
I always apply K.I.S.S. formula in everything in my life, so I feel quite simple and happy every day!
Very nicely put. The way you presented your “simplicity” thesis underscores the very idea.
I have a very simple mind so I always try to make things simple. The problem is I seem to be trying to go too many different directions.
Samm
Simplicity is one of the joys of modern life. A lot of the work involved can be simplified to allow us to focus on one thing.
Simple is only working on one website per day.
Samm
Your theme is really simple and sensitive !
Daily Blog Tips is simple too
I’ve also liked Leo’s Zenhabits a lot, he practises what he preaches…
But there are also plenty of services with not-so-minimalist design, so in the end, I don’t think design matters a lot. Google, Plenty of Fish, etc….
I have a very simple mind so I always try to make things simple. The problem is I seem to be trying to go too many different directions.
Samm
I agree that simplicity is essential for usability. But when you have alot of keywords and areas to be added to a site, simplicity has to go out of the window unfortunately
I like the simplicity of ur theme
Tech Crunch is not simple, they write much less about startups, they write about off topic stuff like “shaking hands”, they syndicate content from their other sites … not simplest blog out there.
I was just looking for a good blog which writes about new startups because Tech Crunch is getting on my nerves lately, any help ?
And I agree about the statement, what I have learned is that when you are starting new site – go simple, don’t confuse readers, don’t make them think what to do on your site because it seems that there are 100 things they can do. Make their user experience simple and useful and they will come back.
I am trying as hard as possible to simplify things. I change my template to more clear design.
Good information and good way your blog post. Good luck blogger man.