| |
| |
|
The Top 8 Website Sins Part One
They say the eyes are the window to the soul. Your website then is the window to your business. What would a passerby think of your "window"? What does your website say about you? About your business? Does your website entice the visitor to pause and take a few moments to look around or does it confuse them so much they click past it without ever looking back. The goal of your website is to make the visitor stay until the desired visitor response has been achieved. That might be that they sign up for your newsletter, complete a survey or make a purchase. If surfer doesn't stay for more than a few moments then all your hard work is for nothing. There are 8 key factors that can prevent people from staying on your site. In extreme cases the key areas below can actually drive traffic away from your site. Sin #1 Provide Useful Content. People search for information online. To find that information they use search engines. They type in keywords or phrases to locate items, places or information they require or desire. Google, Yahoo and MSN go through their indexes and present the searcher with the best possible match for their information request. The searcher clicks on the links and visits a few sites. What happens if the searcher doesn't find relevant information once they get to the site? Yup they go right back to their previous search results and go elsewhere. Provide useful content. Don't scam the search engines. Don't churn out another site made up of copied search engine results. Your website is your business. Treat it like one. The two key rules for website content are: 1. Make it useful. 2. Make it easy to find on your site Sin #2 Slow Loading Sites If your site takes any longer than 30 seconds to load then the visitor is gone. Theywon't be back either. Ideally your website should load in 15 seconds or less. Web surfers will not wait around for your fancy graphics or flash demos to load. They'll get bored and move on. Do not use bitmap graphic files for logos or as part of your site design. They're ugly and take forever to load. Ensure that every single GIF and JPEG is optimized for faster loading. If you don't understand how to optimize graphic files for your site ask somebody to do it for you. It can cut your site loading time by 50%. Keep your site to 20% graphics and 80% text. Text loads faster and gives the web surfer something to read while your graphics are quickly loading in the background. Look at some of the most successful websites on the net - Google, Yahoo and Amazon. Graphically intensive? bsolutely not. These guys realize that every second they waste and visitor they lose is money out of their pocket. Sin #3 Poor Layout A visitor should be able to find what they need on your website in 3 clicks or less. Any more than that and you're losing valuable visitors and the potential income that involves. Your navigation menu should be easy to use and every single link must work properly. Don't just assume that all your links work - check them yourself. Use a sitemap on each and every one of your websites. Do not use fancy mouse pointers - the type with the fancy trails. Do not use complicated menu systems. Text should be legible but not huge. Change your screen resolution to 640 x 480 and 800 x 600. How does your website look now? Keep it simple. Imagine how a new Internet user would react to your website. Would they love it or hate it? Could a new visitor easily find the information they're looking for? If not then why not? Find the problems yourself and eliminate them in advance. Sin #4 Awful Color Schemes There's nothing worse then searching for hours for the information you need and then not be able to read it. You've all been there. You click on the search result and that's when the pain starts. You've just arrived at a page with a light blue background and yellow text. Or maybe it's red text on a black background or white text on a gray background. You stare at the site in disbelief that anybody could ever have thought such a color scheme would actually work. If you need guidance on how to choose colors for your website look at any magazine. Black or dark blue text on a white background is the simplest and most effective color scheme for text presentation. For your menus and other background colours bear the following in mind: Red is stimulating and agressive. Blue is peaceful and tranquil. Green is calm and refreshing. Yellow grabs peoples attention. Purple is wealthy and luxurious. Brown is solid and reliable. Orange is bright and optimistic. The colors you choose for your website can have a direct impact on how people react to your content or message. It can either attract them or repel them. The choice is yours. Continued in part 2 of The Top 8 Website Sins. This article was provided courtesy of Affiliate-Advocate.com where you'll find tons of information on online affiliate marketing
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Why Not To Use Web Design Templates For Your Website In today's age of fast food and high-speed Internet, a business may be tempted to take the "more convenient" route in launching a website - buying a template and customising it.Website design templates are like off-the-shelf websites and are targeted at people who believe that launching their own, unique and differentiated website is costly and time consuming, which need not be the case. Copy Editing: 10 Powerful, Mind Blowing Secrets For Writing A High-Impact Ad No matter what product or service you're promoting,unless you are able to write and use a highlypersuasive Ad, you may not generate a lot of trafficsand sales.Writing a high impact Ad that will deliver truckloads of sales requires some skill and practice. Great E-Cover Creation in 5 Steps There are several graphic software packages available to help you create your own e-covers for your product or service. Most provide you with a set of templates to choose from, and have varying degrees to allow you to modify the templates provided. How To Design A Web Site I'm not a professional web site designer and openly admitthere is a lot that I don't know. But if you're a beginnerI probably know more than you do, so listen up. Give Your Website A Chance I often wonder how serious people are when itcomes to their websites. I thought that mosteveryone knew that the phrase "Build it and they will come" no longer applies on the internetbut I'm not sure how many people really believe it. How To Increase Your Conversion Rate or What Most People Miss When It Comes To Optimization Everybody talks about the importance of testing your sales copy or a page layout. After all, proper testing can help you modify your page in a way that will drastically increase your conversion rate. Do You Hate Your Website? Web Site Sales To Hit $316 Billion Over The Next 6 Years What dollar amount does your web site contribute to this $316 billion dollar trend?Have you spent thousands, tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands on your web site only to discover that it attracts more flies than customers?Do you hate your web site, your web developer or your entire IT department?Do not despair! You are not alone!A great web site is crucial in order to effectively communicate to a business's target audience. It is important for Chief Executives and small business owners to pay close attention to the effect that their web site has on their business. How To Make It Easy For Your Web Designer To Build Your Website You have an idea for a website and you are now looking for somebody to build you the site. You want it to be a smooth ride, and want to have a good working relationship with your web designer. Website Savvy: 10 Key Steps to Turn Your Customers ON! "How to turn "slightly interested" customers into "I've got to have it!" customers!"I am truly amazed as to the lack of information websites contain. You would think that a business would realize that a potential customer would at least like to know how to contact the customer service department. Top Ten Ways to Use Audio on Your Site Audio can provide an added dimension to your site. It creates a warm atmosphere where visitors feel like they know you. Ten Fatal Mistakes That Make Web Sites Stink Since you'll spend lots of time and money to create your web site, don't you want to make sure you're not making mistakes that at best irritate users, and at worst make you lose customers?After all, when you alienate users, you lose potential revenue. Who can afford that?Dr. Hacked Off with CSS? For those not familiar with CSS Hacks, they are ways of using styles/classes that only apply to particular browsers. They are used to overcome the display problems mentioned previously by exploiting CSS structure and code. Eight Website Pitfalls, and How to Avoid Them Clutter: Too much noise, too much text, and too little white space mean that customers ignore the content. Customers often scan pages quickly, only reading titles or input prompts until they reach the content they want. Web Production And Design Tips You have identified that to have an internet prescence would be of benefit to your small business, however are not sure how to proceed. This article gives free tips on web design services and practices and on how to keep your web designer happy and on side. Dos and Donts in Web Design - part 2 (content) Do know your audienceIt's important to know your audience.If you write for a site that sells toys you'll use other words, colors, images etc. 5 Powerful Ways To Get Zero Sales From Your Website I want you to imagine a lemon. In your mind's eye, see its yellow skin. A Website Checklist If you've just finished building your new website (or revamping your old one), how can you be sure it's "ready for prime time"? Or maybe your site's been around for awhile and you think it may be due for a makeover. Because Web technologies, techniques and standards change so rapidly, even a website that seems "cutting edge" when it's built can look obsolete a year later. What Drives Repeat Visitors To Your Site? There can be zillions of reasons why your visitors return to your web site. One might be very interested in seeing your animated photo on your main page, but kidding aside I've gathered 12 elements that invites your visitors to repeat their visits. Top Ten Website Design Secrets for Internet Marketing Success When it comes to marketing your website, you should really work on the design of your site and optimize it so it makes you the maximum amount of money per visitor as possible. The design of your website is very important and plays a huge role in your website's success or failure. Design vs Content: Who is KING? Well it is not Elvis, that's for sure.I am a firm advocate of good design but most of the time people tend to interpret design as amazing graphics and astounding visuals they tend to forget that design is the culmination of every aspect of good and effective presentation into one.
|
| home | site map |
| Webdesign-box © 2006 |
