Four Things NOT to do on Your Website

By Stephanie Foster
Posted Monday, December 20, 2004

You’re the proud owner of a great business, and you want to tell the world. While that is a good idea, you need to do it right, or ruin your company’s reputation. In the online world, people don’t know you, they know your business. Follow some basic rules to keep your reputation intact.

1. This is the big one: DO NOT SPAM! I cannot emphasize this one enough. If you buy an email list, make sure it is from a reputable company. Some just wander through the web harvesting email addresses. If the list is too cheap, it is probably not legitimate. Not only will most just delete your message, if it even makes it past the spam filter, you may get reported to your ISP and shut down.

2. Do not place popup ads all over your site. Popup ads have their place, but use them with caution. Too many popups are an annoyance. They can be effective, however, for advertising specials or newsletters.

3. Do not steal from other sites. Despite popular myth, not everything on the internet is free from copyright. Assume everything you see is copyrighted unless the site specifies otherwise. There is a great deal of free material out there if you just look for it. If you see something you just have to have for your site, contact the webmaster and ASK. They might just say yes.

4. Do not forget to use your spell checker, but even more important, read everything you have written on your website. Many sites are filled with typos, not only blatant misspellings, but also mistakes a spell checker will not catch. Pay attention to what your site says about you. Sloppy mistakes make for a poor impression.

About the Author
Stephanie Foster is the owner of Aspects of Design, where she offers website design, marketing and writing services at affordable prices. She also publishes the Aspects of Design Newsletter for small businesses or people just thinking about starting a business. For more information, visit (http://www.aspectsofdesign.com/).