7-Second Thoughts April 12, 2023

Why do we trust ugly websites?

You don’t have to make your website ugly to be trusted

But the reason websites like Google, pubmed, and even kenpom (wildly popular college basketball ranking website) look so plain

Google hasn’t significantly changed its homepage design since 2004 (!)

Is that they’re focused almost entirely on a simple user experience

In fact, Google’s methodology comes down to this post dating back to their last significant update

Almost 20 years ago:

“Focus on the user and all else will follow.”

See if this helps:

You don’t have to make your website so plain

That it looks as if it’s still in beta

Which most developers thought when they were asked to provide feedback on Google’s first homepage????

But the common thread of some of the most trusted websites

Is that they rely almost entirely on the words

And very few of those words

Feel like marketing.

I’m here,

Kevin

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