I’m on a mission. My mission is to rid the world of bad websites and educate the do-it-yourselfers on how to build better websites. I know, I know. This may be a far reach, but if I can help just one person make his or her website better, then I’ve made a difference!

Pitfall #1: Music and Sound
The number one thing you can do to turn visitors away is adding music or an automated voice that blasts through their speakers when they reach your website. Instead, give your visitors the option to turn it on rather than having it play automatically.

Pitfall #2: Forgetting Multiple Browsers and Screen Resolutions
Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, etc. There are several browsers and each one renders your web pages, colors, and fonts differently. If you’re not viewing your finished site in multiple browsers, then expect the unexpected. Why, oh why, can’t the developers just work together so everyone sees the same thing? Well, even if they did, there is also the issue of different sized monitors and different screen resolutions set on every computer.

Pitfall #3: Too Much Content
If you have more content on a web page than one vertical scroll, then put it in a book. In today’s world, we don’t have time to read 20 paragraphs of text and we’re not going to. Unless you’re Wikipedia, you have no business having that much text on a web page. Scale it down, highlight the important stuff with bullet points and move on. Another option is to break it up into separate web pages and let your visitor decide what’s important to them.

Pitfall #4: Distracting Elements
Cutesy animations, follow-me mouse trails, and blinking text or ads are all distracting to your visitors. If they can’t concentrate on your message, they’re gone and never to be seen again. These elements have no use and your visitors do not think they are cute.

Pitfall #5: Overused Standard Clipart and Images
If you’re still using Microsoft clipart and photos, then it’s time to visit the 21st century. Everybody has it, everybody has access to it, and everybody knows where it came from. It shows no originality and you can get quality photos or custom graphics made very inexpensively.

Pitfall #6: Inconsequential Items
My biggest pet peeve in this category is website counters. Your visitors do not care and they have no purpose. If you want to know how many people have visited your site, then look at your web stats. If you don’t have access to your website statistics, then get Google Analytics—it’s free.

Pitfall #7: Poor Navigation
Your navigation should be clear. You have about 6 seconds to assist your visitors in finding what they need. They want things now, and those who don’t provide this lose out. Don’t make your visitors search for what they need! If they cannot find it in 1 or 2 clicks, you just lost a potential client. The most common searched for items on a site are:

• How can I call you?
• How can I email you?
• What are your services and/or products?
• What are your rates? (Whether you list them on your site or not, they WILL be looking for them.)
• Why should they do business with you? Whether they are looking for testimonials, case studies, a portfolio, or whatever—they want to know.

Pitfall #8: Long Loading Times
Adding Flash, animation, sound, and music all add to your page loading time. Remember there are still people on dial-up, and they won’t wait forever. These items are what I call “fluff,” and your visitors won’t necessarily be impressed when all they are looking for is your contact information and instead they have to wait long periods of time just for your page to load.

Pitfall #9: Not Titling Your Pages
This is my other biggest pet peeve—untitled pages. Don’t forget to title your pages. When you open a website, the very top bar on your window shows the page title. Seeing “Untitled Page” is no good and won’t do anything for you in the search engines.

Pitfall #10: Stagnant Content
If your site content hasn’t changed since 1997, is there really any point to having it? That length of time might be a bit of an exaggeration, but if you plan to optimize your site for the search engines and you want people to keep coming back, you have to update it. You don’t have to make major design changes, change the content on every page, or throw in the kitchen sink. Just keep it fresh. If you don’t have anything to keep your visitors coming back, then it’s time to reevaluate the reason you have a website. Start a blog, an eZine, offer tips, articles, etc. You can offer anything that would be of benefit to others and keep fresh content on your site.

Pitfall #11: Horizontal Scrolling
Making visitors scroll horizontally is just plain bad. Remember that every monitor size is different and each monitor is set to a different resolution.

• Until the year 2000, the standard resolution was 800 x 600. This means that for those using this resolution today with a maximized window, the width of your site cannot extend beyond 760 pixels.
• Since then, 1024 × 768 has been the standard resolution. This would be the equivalent of designing the width of your site to 955 pixels.

Pitfall #12: Inconsistent Elements
Whether it’s text, graphics, or color, it needs to be consistent.

• Colors are not one size fits all. Just because you love the color “Razzle Dazzle Pink” does not mean your entire site should be pink. Think about your target market—unless your target is sassy women who love Razzle Dazzle Pink, you may turn visitors away. Also, your website is not a rainbow, unless you’re a leprechaun, of course. Your site colors should complement your logo while keeping your company branding in mind, and should be kept to a maximum of 3-4 colors.
• Text: The font styles and sizes should be consistent from page to page. No one enjoys viewing a page with one set of fonts and sizes and then having to readjust to new fonts and sizes on other pages. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) take care of this issue, and your web designer should know how to use them to maintain consistency.
• Graphics: Mixing contemporary images like stock photography and cartoon clipart from 1992 is not good design.

Remember, your business website is sometimes the first contact a potential client will have with your company, especially if you’re a virtual or Internet business. You know what they say about first impressions…

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