Should You Use Infinite Scrolling on your Website?

Finding a decent content strategy for your website may not be as easy as it would initially sound. Sometimes, we take a bigger issue with what the content LOOKS like.  Other times, we take issue with what the content SAYS.  These are both good, important things to worry about, and they are issues that need to be included in your strategy.  You obviously want to make sure that people can access the part of your site they want to easily, and they need to be able to find what they are looking for in a timely manner.

Over the last few years, I have noticed more and more websites opting for infinite scrolling for their content as an option, I would assume to help out the mobile crowd in not having to click through page after page.  When we look at content strategies for your website, it is important to find out if this infinite scrolling thing is for you.

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Some very big names use infinite scrolling, and are probably the best for using as an example. Formspring and Facebook are good examples.  There are actually quite a few companies employing this for their websites.  You may have even noticed Google images using this platform.

There are definitely some downsides to using infinite scrolling, which I think we would be foolish to ignore.  Firstly, it can be a freaking PAIN to always have to scroll down to find what I am looking for.  Especially with longer load times!  It also makes it time consuming for people to just skip to the info that they are looking for.  Lastly, you can kiss your footer on your website goodbye.  You may as well not have it(anything clickable, at least).

There are obviously some good points to infinite scroll, as well.  Like we mentioned above, it is a dream for phone and tablet browsers.  Anything with a touch screen is much easier to just keep scrolling rather than stop and click to the next page.  Usually, for any websites with photos on them, I usually see an almost addictive quality for these sites, as well.  I think we like to call this the Pintrest effect.  Managing lots of data and such is definitely easier when approaching the task from an infinite scrolling platform.

Take a look at some of the pros and cons here, and decide if it is something that can either hinder or improve your performance.  If you end up implementing this, let us know, as we would love to know how it ends up!

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