What makes you want to click out of a website before you read the first sentence? For me, it is cheesy music with no “off” button.
Signs of Webmaster Newbies
All of us have been “newbies” at one point in our webmastering lives. We scoured the javascript sites, the dhtml sites and graphics sites for cool stuff that we thought would make our sites look impressive.
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. Unfortunately, this 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, however, you are somewhat anonymous.A professional online image will inspire trust. 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 does it make your text hard to read, but if you are including pictures of products, it is hard to make them 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. The majority of 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. Wtih a music site, there are scripts that you can use that will give your visitor the option to click play. This goes with audio advertisements or other background sound effects — provide a way to pause the sound or shut it off.
- “Cool” effects – About 8 or 9 years ago, it was real “cool” to have a flash presentation on the index page. Everyone was doing this. This does not help establish your online reputation. Flash introductions take forever to create and many of them are just downright stupid. These introductions can take a long time to load and generally, people will not view them. Other components that beginners think are flashy include scrolling text, animated images and page fading effects. I added these types of things when I first started out, thinking it made me look talented. However, the harsh reality is that these effects are a wate of time and a turnoff. I’ve seen some sites, designed by supposed design specialists, where the links scroll by really fast and you have to “aim and shoot” just to be able to click a link. Don’t bother including these effects. Your visitors discovered your site when searching for information or products — they are not there to be impressed with your stie design skills.
- No clear navigation scheme – Many people enter a website by the interior pages, not at the home page. You need to provide them a way to easily navigate through your site. Left and top menus are the most popular and are therefore familiar to your visitors. Regardless of where you place your menu, make sure it’s consistent throughout your entire site. An amateur web design has no clearly defined and consistent 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 do not know how to do this, there are quality free services such as Google search. This makes your site “user friendly” and shows that you care about your visitor’s experience on your site.
- “Secret” prices - If you’re selling products, include the price. Don’t try to force your visitor to go through the shopping cart process to find out what the cost will be — many of them won’t do it, anyway.
- Policies – An amateur site will not include privacy policies, terms of use and, when selling products or services, returns and shipping policies. In this vein, you should also provide contact information, particularly if you are selling products or services.
- Under construction pages – “Under construction” or “coming soon” pages are a surefire way to announce that you’re an amateur. If you haven’t finished a page yet, don’t bother linking to it. Once the page is completed and uploaded, then you can add a link to your menu and sitemap.
- No online shopping cart – If you are selling a product, provide a way for people to purchase your product online. When people are looking to buy something online, they usually intend to buy it immediately. Chances are, they don’t want to mail a check or money order. If you don’t have a merchant account, take a look at Paypal or, if y ou are selling digital products, consider services like Clickbank.There are free shopping carts available for people who already have a merchant account, such as Mals-e.com, which also provides an affiliate program option.
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 giveaways, software and tips to help your fledgling online business, the Not Guru blog delivers plenty of resources every day.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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Tags: javascript, newbies, sound, survey, web design, website design
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