pairbrother

35 Deadly Website Sins That will Kill Your Business!

After reviewing thousands of web sites over the years, 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'll 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 web site design, 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 site's 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.
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Copyright © Shelley Lowery

Shelley Lowery is the author of the acclaimed web design course, Web Design Mastery. http://www.webdesignmastery.com And, Ebook Starter - Give Your Ebooks the look and feel of a REAL book. http://www.ebookstarter.com Visit Web-Source.net to sign up for a complimentary subscription to Etips and receive a copy of the acclaimed ebook, "Killer Internet Marketing Strategies." http://www.web-source.net

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AidenJ

Good list of points. I need to take those tips to heart. Sometimes I get ahead of myself and overlook the details. I think load time and performance are issues I might be blind to on some of my sites because I become used to them over time.

Definately some things to look at regarding my websites.

miker

Your absolutely right. I know we all seem to step over the line once in a while, it is bound to happen. Maybe not so much for yourself but if you are designing for a client this may become a regular thing. After all you have to give them what they want to certain degree.

chatsolutionpoint

Good Points.

But what about Content? Most sites are ignored due to lack of relevant content or publishing irrelevant and unconvincing content. After all no serious surfer visit websites to see how good it looks or how the images or tables are organised - well, talking from a client's point view, yes.

Webmaster - Solution Point
http://www.solutionpoint.in / http://www.osspl.com

rohan2kool

That's a great compilation d00d, thanks a lot...

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www.buulk.com

real great list!

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AMH

I am guilty of too many graphics and that reflects on my load time!

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Katey

Hi there,

WOW, did you get a PHD in Business School, joking, unless you did .

I will read this after my daily nap .


Regards,
Kieran Taylor.

nick4033

Hi Pairbrother,

Thanks for the time to share. Those points sure make sense and gives me something to shoot for. However, It's easier to start on the right foot then have to go back and start making all the needed changes. But at least there is no excuse if you start a new site, all you do is take a look at your list and start from there.

have a great day

Nick

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donnahart

Please explain what you mean by "poor use of frames."
I hired a contractor to desingn my sight. I get many compliments that it is visually pleasing and it seems important since I provide video production services. I determined I need to rewrite my entire website for content and keywords and discovered that there is a "frames" option in windows word software. Is that what you mean? If so is there a way to format in the shape of frames without using frames. Please forgive me, though I am a wizard at advanced editing software and video production tools....I am website and word document challenged! Thanks so much for your detailed post. It helps all of us "newbies" get up to speed much more quickly.

Regards, Donna