1) Splash pages…Try to avoid if you can.
Splash pages are pretty much what they sound like. This is the fist page a visitor will see upon entering your website. It’s very common to see a splash of “flare”. Some of this “flare” will be in the form of pictures, fancy text, or some kind of eye catching method that the visitor would have to click on in order to get to the site they originally wanted. Splash pages offer no real content of the website. In today’s fast paced world, most people don’t want to go through the hoops to get to your site.
2) Advertising BANNERS….Don’
No one likes to be sold anything. People like to buy. Banner ads are so overused today that most people simply ignore them. If you see a banner on every site sooner or later (and we are in the later phase) people just pass them by. More effectively, is to give good information on your product and provide a link for them to check it out. It makes your potential buyer feeling like they made choice to but rather then feeling “pushed” to buy
3) Keep your site simple and easy to get around.
One of the problems of becoming a better web designer is wanting to play with all the fancy features (Frames, Drop down menus, flash, fancy fonts, music…). I once heard this: the 3 phases to maturity of a web designer
a. I am a beginner so I will keep my site simple
b. I am now a guru, time to push my site to the limits
c. I understand why to keep my site simple (mature)
Not to say you can’t make awesome websites with cool little features, but you must keep in your mind that all visitors are not the same. And all browsers don’t support the same things. A website could look Killer on Internet Explorer at 1024x768 but look horrendous with Netscape at 800x600. So keep your site simple and easy for the common visitor to walk through your site.
4) Does the Visitor Know Where He Is?
When visitors are deeply engrossed in browsing your site, you will want to make sure they know which part of the site they are in at any moment. That way, they will be able to browse relevant information or navigate to any section of the site easily. Don't confuse your visitors. That’s a sure fire way to get them to leave your site.
5) AUDIO….To use or not to use…That is the question.
Nothing can be more annoying then having music blasting as soon as you enter a site. Especially if your going to stay on that site for a while. How long will the average user stand the same music being looped over and over?
A lot of users surf while at work. I sure hope they have there speakers off or you just lost a visitor in record time! But, if you are hell bent on using audio, please don’t embed the music file into your code so they have no control over it. Make sure they have basic control over it like a volume/mute adjustments. Even better give them a link to click on if they choose to have some background music.
Now Go Design!
Chris Rutz
~Teaching The Science Behind Marketing~
http://www.LearnFinancialFreedom.com
Press16K@gmail.com
