| 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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| About the
Author |
Shelley Lowery is the Webmaster of
Web-Source.net -
A complete resource portal for the
Internet entrepreneur.
The site assists the entrepreneur
in developing a serious
Web presence by providing a wealth
of free information,
resources, tools and content.
http://www.web-source.net
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