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Got confused users? Here are two quick fixes for under $10

The day the UI Guy lost it

We’ve all been there.

A button on our site that leads to all sorts of awesomeness, dormant and unclicked.

How do you spice it up? Iconography, my friend. And good iconography at that.

First, the free option: FontAwesome. FontAwesome is a font filled with icons (think Dingbats or Wingdings). In this case, all the icons correspond to a vector image that can scale indefinitely large or small, and the whole set is paired with a JavaScript toolkit to help you use them more easily. In fact, many WordPress themes come bundled with the latest FontAwesome set:

Font Awesome

The best part? FontAwesome is 100% absolutely, totally free. You just have to be able to figure out how to use it (or have a theme that comes bundled).

Next up, the kinda-free option: The Noun Project.

The Noun Project

I’m a big fan of The Noun Project. They have some seriously cool icons you can download for free and almost all of them are licensed under Creative Commons – meaning you can use them for free as long as you attribute the author. You can also pay per icon or monthly starting at $10/mo for 10 no-attribution-needed downloads. The fees go to support the artists to make more icons. Better still, if you’re artistically inclined, you can make your own set of icons and sell them straight from the site. How cool is that?

OK, so I’ve got some icons, now what?

A lonely little button that doesn’t get any clicks will be a slightly-fancier lonely little button that doesn’t get any clicks if you just throw an icon on it. You want to guide the user’s path through your site using iconography – make it crystal clear what you want them to do next, what you want them to click on next, what you want them to pay attention to.

It’s not just about the fact that you have an icon, but that you have the right icon in use that makes sense to the context of the action you are hoping the user takes.

  • Moving on to the next step? An arrow might be worthy.
  • Want the user to pay you? Maybe a dollar sign (if you want to remind the user about money – though this can backfire)
  • Want the user to read something? A book, exclamation mark, or warning sign (depending on what the material is)

In short, a free (or almost-free) icon might not be a cure-all for your conversion woes, but it can certainly help!

This post is part of the Word Carnival series. Every month, a whole cadre of awesome business professionals get together to talk best practices. Everybody and their mom claims to have the magic panacea that will suddenly jump you from living out of a cardboard box to a six figure income, laughing from the penthouse suite as you throw coins over your balcony – not for the morbid fun of it, but just so you can feel something – anything – again. Anyway, here’s a lineup of the Word Carnival business experts favorite tools – all for under $10. No panaceas, just great tools that work well.

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Recently Awesome Folks

  • Michelle Nickolaisen on Got confused users? Here are two quick fixes for under $10

    I've never heard of Font Awesome - I'll have to look into that! Funny thing is that I HAD heard...
    Posted Sep 10, 2014
  • BusySuperVA on Got confused users? Here are two quick fixes for under $10

    I have heard of Font Awesome - I never used but agree it's neat. A new one for me is...
    Posted Sep 09, 2014
  • Carol Lynn Rivera on Got confused users? Here are two quick fixes for under $10

    I like Font Awesome, too. Pretty nifty. Haven't heard of the other but I'm a bleeding heart support-the-artist liberal so...
    Posted Sep 04, 2014
  • Sharon Hurley Hall on Got confused users? Here are two quick fixes for under $10

    Never heard of the Noun Project, so thanks, Nick. Icons do come in handy. :)
    Posted Aug 27, 2014

What our clients say:

“Nick and his team delivered a great new website for my company. I am happy with the results and the feedback from our clients and friends was super positive.”

- Betsy Craig, MenuTrinfo
2014-01-01T11:49:52-07:00
“Nick and his team delivered a great new website for my company. I am happy with the results and the feedback from our clients and friends was super positive.” - Betsy Craig, MenuTrinfo
https://pixelatedonpurpose.com/testimonials/betsy-craig-menutrinfo/
"We enjoyed working with Nick, he was fun, very responsive, and has great ideas. We like the look of our new website, functionality, and how it tells our message of what Greenpoint Landscaping really is. He also set us up on a blogging plan to help drive traffic to our website."

- Peter Roberts, Greenpoint Landscaping
2014-09-10T15:47:51-06:00
"We enjoyed working with Nick, he was fun, very responsive, and has great ideas. We like the look of our new website, functionality, and how it tells our message of what Greenpoint Landscaping really is. He also set us up on a blogging plan to help drive traffic to our website." - Peter Roberts, Greenpoint Landscaping
https://pixelatedonpurpose.com/testimonials/peter-roberts-greenpoint-landscaping/
"Nick has done an awesome job firstly recreating my program's website, then improved on it, and followed up with great training materials and a promise to be there when we will expand the website."

- Linda Hodgson, ChangeLabs
2013-12-27T21:53:40-07:00
"Nick has done an awesome job firstly recreating my program's website, then improved on it, and followed up with great training materials and a promise to be there when we will expand the website." - Linda Hodgson, ChangeLabs
https://pixelatedonpurpose.com/testimonials/linda-hodgson-changelabs/
"As an expert web developer, Nick can do almost anything you ask him to! He really does need to wear a cape to work. Nick is very generous with his time, and he genuinely loves to help people solve problems. I am looking forward to working with Nick on many more exciting projects."

- Molly McCowan, InkBot Editing
2014-01-01T12:03:37-07:00
"As an expert web developer, Nick can do almost anything you ask him to! He really does need to wear a cape to work. Nick is very generous with his time, and he genuinely loves to help people solve problems. I am looking forward to working with Nick on many more exciting projects." - Molly McCowan, InkBot Editing
https://pixelatedonpurpose.com/testimonials/molly-mccowan-inkbot-editing/
"We worked along side Nick for a year and half and would recommend his talent and creativeness to anyone willing to take a look at the “standard” way of doing things a little differently that still achieve lasting results."

- Jan Peters, Fort Collins Brewery
2014-01-01T11:58:52-07:00
"We worked along side Nick for a year and half and would recommend his talent and creativeness to anyone willing to take a look at the “standard” way of doing things a little differently that still achieve lasting results." - Jan Peters, Fort Collins Brewery
https://pixelatedonpurpose.com/testimonials/jan-peters-fort-collins-brewery/
“Nick has been a great asset on the project we worked on together. His knowledge and expertise made the process go smoothly. I would hire him for future projects when the opportunity presents itself.“

-  Sam Haltom, Another Color, Inc
2014-01-01T11:49:09-07:00
“Nick has been a great asset on the project we worked on together. His knowledge and expertise made the process go smoothly. I would hire him for future projects when the opportunity presents itself.“ -  Sam Haltom, Another Color, Inc
https://pixelatedonpurpose.com/testimonials/sam-haltom-another-color-inc/
"Nick has an eye for creative and fun ways to step a business up a notch. He’s passionate, experienced, and knowledgeable about marketing and web development. He helped redesign our website for easier management and created campaigns for our social media outreach for a reasonable cost. Nick is a great person to have on board any business team."

- Chelsey Walker, Ridekick
2014-01-01T14:05:33-07:00
"Nick has an eye for creative and fun ways to step a business up a notch. He’s passionate, experienced, and knowledgeable about marketing and web development. He helped redesign our website for easier management and created campaigns for our social media outreach for a reasonable cost. Nick is a great person to have on board any business team." - Chelsey Walker, Ridekick
https://pixelatedonpurpose.com/testimonials/chelsey-walker-ridekick/
"Nick Armstrong is brilliant and made us feel cared for. He is talented and his work is of the highest quality. Nick respects his work and his cost is reasonable and he delivers on time."

- Ed and Deb Shapiro, Be The Change
2014-01-01T14:06:05-07:00
"Nick Armstrong is brilliant and made us feel cared for. He is talented and his work is of the highest quality. Nick respects his work and his cost is reasonable and he delivers on time." - Ed and Deb Shapiro, Be The Change
https://pixelatedonpurpose.com/testimonials/ed-and-deb-shapiro-be-the-change/
"There are very few individuals in this day-and-age that commit themselves so passionately into their profession and Nick Armstrong is one. I would recommend him to anyone, especially to those who don’t completely understand the backside of setting up a business website. He was great!"

- Linda Griego, Java Raiz
2014-01-01T12:06:09-07:00
"There are very few individuals in this day-and-age that commit themselves so passionately into their profession and Nick Armstrong is one. I would recommend him to anyone, especially to those who don’t completely understand the backside of setting up a business website. He was great!" - Linda Griego, Java Raiz
https://pixelatedonpurpose.com/testimonials/linda-griego-java-raiz/
"Nick is the Yoda of the programming and marketing world: he is wise and powerful in the ways of the code; he wields his mouse with great speed and agility; he continually ponders the mysteries of marketing; and he is an excellent and effective instructor with a mischievous sense of humor :-)"

- Megan Henderson, Henderson + Company
2014-01-01T11:57:28-07:00
"Nick is the Yoda of the programming and marketing world: he is wise and powerful in the ways of the code; he wields his mouse with great speed and agility; he continually ponders the mysteries of marketing; and he is an excellent and effective instructor with a mischievous sense of humor :-)" - Megan Henderson, Henderson + Company
https://pixelatedonpurpose.com/testimonials/megan-henderson-henderson-company/
"Nick Armstrong has been a wonderful WordPress consultant for my business. His tutoring expertise was extremely helpful. Nick is a tremendous WordPress resource and expert."

- Catherine Rogers, Coldwell Banker
2013-12-28T13:28:40-07:00
"Nick Armstrong has been a wonderful WordPress consultant for my business. His tutoring expertise was extremely helpful. Nick is a tremendous WordPress resource and expert." - Catherine Rogers, Coldwell Banker
https://pixelatedonpurpose.com/testimonials/catherine-rogers-coldwell-banker/

A division of WTF MarketingPixelated on Purpose is a small business web design company in Fort Collins, Colorado and a division of WTF Marketing.

Pixelated on Purpose
#177 2614 S. Timberline Road Ste 109
Fort Collins, CO 80525
Pixelated On Purpose - Web Design by Pixelated On Purpose