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Seven Common Web Mistakes that Website Designers Make when Designing
By: Chris King
Whether or not you are a designer or would-be designer, do pay attention to these mistakes. They will separate the professional from the amateur. They also help determine your website?s placements on search engine listings. They will contribute to whether or not your visitors stay for a time at your website.
MISTAKE #1: Failing to include sufficient contact information. My personal preference is to have contact information appear on every page of the website. You never know when the user will want to find out how to get in touch with you. I suggest having your address, phone number and a hot-linked e-mail address handy. Yes, this may be increase the amount of spam that is sent to your e-mail address, but I can live with that if I am easily accessible to potential clients.
MISTAKE #2: Not giving your visitor choices about running audio and/or video. Yes, audio messages and the use of video have become prevalent on the websites of today. And, yes they both tend to help with sales. Nevertheless, I suggest that you let your visitor decide whether or not to listen and/or watch. There are sites that start speaking to you the minute you land and anytime you land in the future.
MISTAKE #3: Making use of frames for the overall design. I don?t see the use of frames as often as I did in the past. You can tell that you are on a ?frames? website when as you scroll down the page, the top of the page disappears behind the top banner. The biggest problem with frames is that none of the text content can be read by the search engine spiders, so your website will not be indexed by the searches.
MISTAKE #4: Including a counter (for number of visitors). First of all, your visitors could care less about knowing how many others have visited the site. Moreover, you can start the majority of counters at any number you wish, so they are not accurate and are meaningless. Counters usually spell ?amateur.?
MISTAKE #5: Forgetting that ?Content is King? - it always has been and always will be. People visit our websites for information. The better the information, the more chance that they will return again and again. The search engines grade the websites on the amount and value of our content.
MISTAKE #6: Letting your website become obviously out-of-date. In my book, this is one of the biggest robbers of credibility. We see it all of the time. When I see a calendar with dates of events from 2003, I feel immediately that the owner doesn?t care or doesn?t realize that it is imperative to keep the information and content timely.
MISTAKE #7: Thinking, ?If I build it, they will come.? You have probably noticed how often I have mentioned the search engines and the importance of having a good listing. There are many other ways to be found and even obtain a great position on the searches. Check out the many books on the subject.
As with everything Internet-related, I have only ?scratched the surface? of MISTAKES. If you avoid these seven, however, you will have a good start to a successful website.
Chris King is a professional website creator / designer, storyteller, writer, free agent, and fitness instructor. You will find her business website at http://www.creativekeys.biz where you can sign up for her monthly Internet Tips E-zine. In addition visit Chris? information website at http://www.creativekeys.net and her blog at http://www.curiositycubed.blogspot.com |
