10 Things All Webmasters Should Know

By Lata Budhrani
Posted Tuesday, July 27, 2004

Geared Up with a website and lots of energy to make a mark online? Spare some time and go through this. You'll be glad you did. If you don't already, this is something you MUST know!

1. Maintain an easy to follow Navigational system throughout your website.

2. Do not use frames unless it's really important. Visitors detest getting stuck up in frames and Search Engines find it difficult to index websites with frames.

3. Avoid using scrollbars horizontally. There is nothing more annoying than having to scroll both vertically and horizontally at all screen lengths.

4. A full Flash Website may look very appealing, but that's the last thing your visitors are going to wait for to load. Instead try embedding Flash on your pages to get the same look.

5. To minimize download time, use tables with different background colors to add life to your pages, instead of using too many graphics.

6. Do not cluster too many animated buttons and banners throughout your site. Your visitors will not be able to browse comfortably with all that blinking going on and will surf elsewhere.

7. Keep updating your website. People will not return if they find the same old stuff lying there.

8. Put up a message board, feedback form, guestbook etc. to add a touch of interactivity to your website.

9. Make it a point to return the visits and/or answer all e-mails/messages within a reasonable period of time.

10. Provide links to other websites, even your competitors, if possible. This shows you are not conceited and are willing to help your visitors to find what they need. This little gesture goes a long way to earn you goodwill.

About The Author
Lata Budhrani is the Founder/Editor of Dot Com Women, a premier women's website and online community. Visit her at (http://www.dotcomwomen.com).
lata@dotcomwomen.com