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35 deadly website sins that will kill your
business.
By Shelley
Lowery
After reviewing thousands of web sites over the past couple of
years for my Exceptional Sites Award, I have come to the conclusion
that many business web sites are missing the boat.
For example; I've been working on some offline promotions and
was searching for a simple targeted mailing list. I searched through
about twenty sites and not one of those sites were, what I would
consider, professional. Their standard blue links were enlarged
to about a size 16 font, busy backgrounds, flashing images and
very unorganized.
Did I purchase a mailing list from any of those sites? Absolutely
not. Why? The way I see it, if those companies don't take pride
in their web sites, chances are, they won't take pride in their
products either. Large linked text and flashing graphics won't
make sales.
Your web site is a direct reflection of you and your business.
The appearance of your site is the most important factor in determining
your sites value. In other words, if your site doesn't look professional
or pleasing to the eyes at first glance, its perceived value and
the value of your products and services will be low.
On the other hand, you may have a great web site, well designed
and a quality product or service, but if it takes too long to
load, the value will still be perceived as low. Why? Because your
potential customer won't wait. Ultimately costing you business.
Another consideration of great importance is your content. Not
just links, but content with value. When someone is surfing the
net and they visit your web site, they're visiting for a reason.
Your site has something they want. Whether it is your product,
service or information, that's why they're there. If they don't
find what they're looking for, they move on to the next site and
so on. If you want your visitors to stay at your site, provide
the quality content they're looking for in a nicely organized
fashion. Give them a reason to want to explore your site and to
continue to visit your site in the future.
After receiving many questions, in regard to site design, from
my visitors who weren't selected to receive an award, I have devised
a list of what I refer to as "35 Deadly Web Site Sins".
- Poor load time
- Poor overall appearance
- Spelling/Grammar
- No contact information
- Poor content
- Poor navigation
- Broken links and graphics
- Poor browser compatibility
- Large slow loading graphics
- Too many graphics
- Pages scrolling to oblivion
- Multiple use of animated graphics
- Animated bullets
- Too many graphic and/or line dividers
- Busy, distracting backgrounds
- Multiple banners and buttons
- Poor use of frames
- Large fonts
- Pop up messages
- Over use of java
- Poor use of tables
- Poor organization
- Different backgrounds on each page
- Over powering music set to autoplay
- Confusing
- Too much advertising
- Large Welcome banners
- Multiple colored text
- Text difficult to read
- No Meta tags
- Multiple use of different fonts
- Under construction signs
- Scrolling text in the status bar
- Large scrolling text across the page
- Poor use of mouse over effects
Take some time to really look at your site. Compare it to sites
that you feel look professional. Time your sites load time. Your
customers won't wait. Their time is valuable.
The simple, well designed sites make the sales. If your sales
aren't what you had hoped , take some time to seriously evaluate
your site and make some changes before spending your time and
money on advertising and marketing. You may be pleasantly surprised.
If you're serious about designing a successful website, I highly
recommend Ken Evoy's ebook, "Make Your Site Sell." No
matter what you want your Website to sell, MYSS shows you how,
like no other book or program ever has. http://www.sitesell.com/websource.html
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Shelley Lowery is the author of Ebook Starter - A complete ebook
design kit. Subscribe to Etips, for a wealth of quality information
to assist you in Web Design, Internet Marketing & Ecommerce.
All new subscribers receive a free copy of the highly acclaimed
ebook, "Killer Internet Marketing Strategies. http://www.web-source.net/cgi-bin/t.cgi?l=bl1
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