Are you scaring visitors away from your site instead of attracting them to it?

By Akanksha Sinha
Posted Monday, June 21, 2004

Have you ever wondered why your “perfect" website is not generating the kind of traffic you hoped it would? Time for a reality check! Maybe your website isn't as perfect as you thought! Heart broken? Don't be it's not too late to correct those mistakes...Begin Now!

Here are some of the most common mistakes people make while building their websites:

1.PAGE CANNOT BE FOUND :

Broken links and dead links can cause a lot of damage to your website. Make sure all your links work - There is nothing more annoying to your visitors than clicking on a link only to find a ‘page cannot be displayed' error message!

2.PAGE UNDER CONSTRUCTION :

Don't put a link on your site that takes you to a ‘page under construction!' Put the link on the site when you have something to offer. Don't toy with your visitors' time, patience and emotions!!! Oh! And please take off that annoying ‘page under construction' logo right NOW!!!

3.MULTIPLE POP UPS :

Pop ups should be used wisely, if at all! Don't drive your visitors crazy with multiple pop-up windows flooding their screen. They will never forgive you for the time and effort they had to waste in closing those pop-ups!!!

4.BLACK / GARISH LOOKING BACKGROUNDS :

Avoid using black as your page background color. It not only makes it difficult to read the content on your website but also makes your site look illegal and spammy! Make sure that your site conveys useful information to your visitors and in the process convinces them that you are worth doing business with.

5.ILLEGIBLE TEXT :

Make the content on your website easy to read, grasp and follow. Use font sizes that will not strain the eyes while reading. The content should gel well with your overall page format. Use slightly bigger and bold text for main headings as compared to your body copy.

6.LARGE HEAVY IMAGES

If you want to use images on your website, make sure to optimize your image size as much as possible. Do not make your site heavy by using big images that take ages to download. Avoid using background images on your web page. They look shabby and interfere with the user's experience of browsing through your site. Too many moving logos, rotating images and other add-ons can work negatively for your site. So be careful not to overdo.

7.FLASH INTRO'S WITH NO ESCAPE

If you want to use a flash introduction on your site, go ahead use it. But do not forget to provide a “SKIP INTRO" or “HTML Site" link as an option along with your flashy flash movie!! Be thoughtful! Think of all those visitors who want to skip right through to the real information on your site. This way you have a nice intro running for those who care to see it and a direct link to your site for those who don't.

8.LONG NEVER ENDING PAGES

Avoid making your pages too long : It is very frustrating for visitors to your website to scroll down endlessly each page to read what you have to say.....What adds to the problem is when you have badly laid out content. Don't make them hunt for information - lay it out well, structure it.....

These are just some of the mistakes to watch out for....don't forget that building a good website is an on going process...so hang in there and all the best!!

About the Author
Akanksha Sinha - is a freelance Web Content Writer and Web designer.
(http://www.mygoogly.com/akanksha.htm)
aks_design@rediffmail.com