Ok, maybe not this simple
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This may be my last post for a week. My wife is about to have our second child and I may have to skip a week of posts. I promise to be back shortly providing great content we can chat about.

I can’t stress enough the importance of keeping things simple – in everything you do.

Why?

Because if you confuse your customer, they’ll say no.

This doesn’t mean you can’t put together a complicated website or a chef can’t whip up a spicy dish with tons of ingredients and prep time. It means the end result for your customer must make sense to them. They must know how to do what they need to do with little effort. There can be no distractions or confusion.

As a real estate investor, many times I can find ways to put a deal together that would ultimately net me the most profit while also giving my buyer or seller what they really are asking for.

It is unlikely, though, that a seller would understand and accept a deal where I handed her a 2nd mortgage as a down payment and for the rest of her equity, I’d offer her a Zero-Coupon Municipal Bond, a great investment.

If she was knowledgeable in investments, then yes, I might try to persuade her to accept a more complicated deal, otherwise my best bet is to keep the deal simple.

How about websites?

Ever click into a website and say, “huh?”

Websites and online human behaviors play by a whole different set of rules. You have a maximum of 30 seconds to capture your visitor’s attention and even if you do capture it, you’re content, graphics, site’s usability, and everything else is on watch. Confuse them and they’ll click away faster than my son cries every time I turn on Mad Money.

Users online want to be told:

  • where to go
  • what to do
  • how to do it without having to think

So give them what they want. Tell them what to do, but keep it simple. Your site’s navigation is an absolute must to keep simple.

How about life?

Ah, to live a simple life. Sounds nice, doesn’t it.

But we get so caught up in “things” we many times don’t stop to consider what our necessities are. Imagine for a moment if you lived below your means and only bought or used necessities.

Would you be less stressed?

With all those things you own come responsibilities, credit card payments, and worries.

Oh, and you’d probably be wealthier, too. Yup, that’s right; simpler can equal wealthier. Instead of spending money on 50 useless things that sit in your closet and never get used, you could invest that money in a Roth IRA or the best investment out there, land.

So what to do?

I could go on and on about the benefits of simplicity, but I think you get my point.

The thing to do is start analyzing yourself, your business, and your surroundings. Is your desk cluttered? Do you buy shoes you never wear? etc.

Analyze your website. Have friends and family who aren’t as Internet savvy as you navigate through it. Do they understand what your purpose is? Can they easily find what they need?

If you like, I’d be happy to review your website. Just head over to our community forum and ask away.

So keep things simple and don’t confuse your customer, because a confused mind always says no.

What do you think? Is there a time and place where things shouldn’t be simple?

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