Over the holidays I decided to tackle a project I had been putting off for a while: sorting the ever-expanding mound of clothes and toys my daughter has outgrown over her almost 6 years. I sorted everything into new piles: donate to charity, spring yard sale, relatives and coworkers with younger kids, special items to keep, and garbage.

Cleaning and organizing the pile in my closet lead to other parts of my closet, which lead to the hall linen closet, our home office, my vanity and our bathroom. After spending 30 minutes here and 60 minutes there, I had all kinds of piles - not just my daughter’s items - all over the upstairs. How did so much accumulate without my noticing?

What's lurking in the closets of your sitemap?

It strikes me that this often happens on websites - piles of content form in forgotten corners of the sitemap. Like my closets, it's hard to say when the clutter happened. Not sure where to put that piece of content or PDF? Just shove it in the ‘about us’ section. Latest corporate initiative that just has to go on the homepage? Stick it in the bottom corner.

What’s lurking in the closets of your website? Pull every bit of content out, and with the help of your website stats, start sorting:

Purge
Is there content that hasn't been read in the last 2 years (like that old sweater on the top shelf that you love but haven't worn)? Are there forgotten micro-sites or landing pages from old campaigns. Use your website stats to get a list the least accessed pages on your site. If no one is reading, why hang onto it?

Reorganize
Do you have similar types of content in 3 different sections of your website? Consolidate similar items so they can be found more intuitively. Are there certain sequences of clicks or navigation paths that occur more often than others? Make sure there are obvious links to persuade even more people down these popular paths.

Reprioritize
Priorities often shift as products, services and our organizations as a whole, evolve. What once deserved top billing on your homepage or in your products section may not reflect current thinking. Make sure the top tasks of your users are the most easily accessible, not shoved to the back of the shelf. Also ensure your goals for the new year have prominent calls to action on key pages throughout your site.

Repurpose
Do you have old content that isn't as popular as it once was but still has some value? Maybe it just needs a fresh coat of paint and repositioning to breathe life back into it.

De-cluttering of your website should be an annual task (don't wait 4 1/2 years like I did at home). No doubt - it's a big task, but plain and simple: cobwebs on content just aren't good for business.