In this article, I list what I feel, and what other surfers
have shared with me, are the mistakes that not only drive
visitors away, but also drive them "crazy."
#1. An incredibly long download time. We are all
impatient when surfing the Internet. There are still many
computer users without high speed connections, so avoid the
following factors that contribute to slowness:
- Flash Intros -- I love Flash. It is an amazing
program that helps a designer/developer do exciting movies
and animations. The main problem, however, is that many
of the intros don't enhance the experience and take so
long to open, the visitor has clicked away.
- Graphics that are large and/or not optimized --
I also love graphics. The problem is that designers resize
the graphic after it is placed on a webpage. This means
the visitor has to wait for the large graphic to load and
then be resized. Resize graphics before adding to the page
and also optimize for quick loading by lowering the resolution
(quality).
- Bloated code -- Several authoring software programs
produce more code that is necessary. FrontPage 2003 is
better than the earlier versions, but my authoring program
of choice for clean, non-bloated and web compliant code
is Macromedia's Dreamweaver.
#2. Lack of clarity -- Visiting a website, we expect
to find our way around easily, to realize the purpose of
the website, to know what the site has to offer, and how
to find it. For the sake of clarity, avoid the following:
- Mystery meat -- Vincent Flanders and Dean Peters
in their Web Pages that Suck books compare websites
that are confusing -- you don't know what they are about
or where they are going -- to mystery meat. Be obvious
-- most users are not into guessing what it's all about.
- Difficult navigation -- It is another mystery
when finding a page or the information you want. If visitors
must click more than three times to find what they are
looking for, they will click away. Solutions are providing
a search feature or a straightforward site map made up
of obvious text links.
- Hidden or incomplete contact information -- It
is frustrating if there isn't a clear way to contact the
company or owner of the website. Personally, I don't advise
having only one contact page. I prefer to include the information
or at least a link to the e-mail address on every page
of the site. It is also my bias that the full address and
phone number be posted for credibility.
Little substance, professionalism or attention to important
details -- I am sure that you have visited websites
that proceed to tell you how they are the "best” and
yet shout out the opposite message. To avoid giving the
wrong message, pay attention to the following:
- Content must be informative, well developed and complete --
How often have you visited a site for useful content and
found a bunch of photos with a few short bullets and no
true substance? We need to make our content strong enough
that the visitor wants to read it and then come back for
more.
- Typos and grammatical errors scream non-professional --
Yes, I know that we all make errors, especially if we are
writing many articles, descriptions and e-newsletters.
But, if our copy is loaded with poor grammar, misspellings,
terrible punctuation and malapropisms, we will be sending
the wrong message along with sending our visitors away
forever.
Chris King is a professional website creator / designer,
storyteller, writer, free agent, and fitness instructor.
You will find her business website at
http://www.creativekeys.biz and
her information website at
http://www.creativekeys.net
