November 10, 2008

What makes you scream when you stumble upon a website? For me, it is tacky music with no “off” button.

Signs of Webmaster Newbies

All of us have been “newbies” at one point in our webmastering lives.To make what we thought were impressive sites, we spent hours searching the free javascript sites, dhtml sites and so on for copy-and-paste scripts.

You can generally spot a first timer’s website right off the bat because the webmaster adds a smorgasboard of javascripts, animated gifs and other components to the site, thinking it makes the site look technologically advanced. This only makes a site look amateur.

Creating an Amateur Image

You might have a brick and mortar business that’s been around for the last decade, with tons of satisfied customers.On the Internet, your visitors are meeting you for the first time.To establish trust, you want to have a professional image.  When designing your website, here are some things to avoid so that your business does not look amateur or like a fly-by-night operation:

• Dark, heavy backgrounds with hard-to-read fonts - For a business website, it’s best to use a plain white background and black text so that your visitors can read it easily. Some first timers are tempted to have patterned or colorful backgrounds, with different text colors. Not only is this hard to read, but if you have a product line, it is difficult to make pictures of your product line blend in with the background.
• Pages that are larger than the browser screen - There’s nothing more irritating that trying to read a web page that scrolls across the screen. Generally, web users use 1024 x 768 as their desktop resolution. Try to remain within those confines.
• Sound effects - Everyone has different tastes when it comes to music, but even if you discovered music that appeals to every single person alive, don’t make it automatically load on your site. With a music site, there are scripts that will allow the user to click “play” at his or her option. The same goes with audio advertisements or other background sound effects — have a pause or “off” button.
• “Cool” effects - About 8 or 9 years ago, it was real “cool” to have a flash presentation on the index page. Almost everyone was doing this. This does not establish your online reputation. Flash introductions take a lot of effort to create and in the end, many are just downright stupid. These intros can take a long time to load and most people will not wait around to view them. Another thing that beginners think is “cool” are page fading effects, animated images and scrolling text. When I first started designing pages, I added these things, thinking it made me look like I was adept with web design. However, the cold reality is that these effects are a waste of time and a turnoff. I have seen some sites designed by alleged website design specialists, where the links quickly scroll across the screen and you have to “aim and shoot” just to be able to click a link. Don’t waste your time adding in these effects. People are visiting your site for information or products, not a bunch of movement that’ll give them a headache.
• No clear navigation scheme - Many people enter a website by the interior pages, not at the home page. You should give your visitors a way to easily click through your site. Menus that are on the left side of the page or on the top of the page are the most popular. The key is that you keep your menu in the exact location throughout your site so that it is consistent. A surefire indicator of an amateur web design is the absense of a navigation menu.
• No search feature - Particularly if you have a large product line that you are selling or if you have a content rich site, always include a search box to help your visitors. If you don’t know how to do this, try Google’s free search box or another quality free service.This creates a “user friendly” site and shows that you care about your visitor’s experience.
• “Secret” prices - If you’re selling products, include the price. Don’t force your potential customer to go through the shopping cart process just to find out the price — many are turned off by this and will not do it in the first place.
• Policies - An amateur site will not include privacy policies, terms of use and, when selling products or services, returns and shipping policies. If you are selling products or services, you should also provide contact information.
• Under construction pages - “Under construction” or “coming soon” pages are a surefire way to announce that you’re an amateur. Do not link to a page until it is completed. Add a link to your menu or sitemap at such time as the page is completed.
• No online shopping cart - If you are selling a product, provide a way for people to purchase your product online. If a web surfer is beyond the ‘research mode’ and ready to buy something online, he or she wants to be able to buy it immediately. For the most part, your potential buyer is not interested in spending the time mailing in a check or money order. Paypal is a good option if you don’t have a merchant account and if you’re selling digital products, services like Clickbank are worth considering.There are free shopping carts available for people who already have a merchant account, such as Mals-e.com, which also givesyou the ability to offer an affiliate program.

What’s Your Top Gripe?

Newbie or pro, you can voice your opinion about what makes a stinking website at the NotGuru’s survey about poor website design.  If you’re looking for software, giveaways and other things to help your fledgling online business, the NotGuru blog provides plenty of resources.If you have a couple of seconds to spare, take the site design survey and feel free to comment - the results are interesting.

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