July 8

Website Faux Pas
Sun Review July 8, 2000

There used to be a time when it was OK to slap any old webpage up there and be done with it. These days, when people look at a poorly designed site they ask "Do we want to do business with them?".

The importance of proper website marketing cannot be underrated. Upside magazine phrased it best: "Word of mouth, frequency of press appearances, Web site quality and the frequency and quality of advertisements all serve to create the image of a 'real company.'"

People often commit the same mistakes over and over again, in the real world and in webdesign. By pointing out these mistakes, and being told that they are mistakes, you can avoid them when you design your own webpages.

Download time: One of the most important and often overlooked considerations is download time. No one wants to wait more than 15 seconds for your website to load. If you have a lot of information to present, split it up into smaller, manageable chunks rather than placing it all on one long page. Keep the number of graphics to a minimum, and optimize your images for quick downloading.

Home page: Your home page is by far the most important page of your site. It provides visitors with the first impression of your company or organization, and as such, it deserves more attention than any other page in your site. You only get one chance to make a first impression, so make sure it's a good one. Remember to let your visitors know exactly what they'll find on your site, right on the first page.

Navigation: Your website should be easy to navigate, and viewers should be able to jump to any webpage on your site within 3 clicks. There is nothing worse than "mystery meat navigation", where you're forced to click on an unnamed button in the hopes that it might take you to the right page. Make the navigation on your site easy and obvious, and use common words rather than industry jargon to indicate different sections of your site. Keep the navigation consistent, and be sure to provide links back to every major section from any page on the site.

Content: In the web world, content is king. Without content, there is no reason for people to visit your website.

Promotion: It doesn't matter how nice your site looks, or how easy it is to navigate, or how informative the content is, if no one can actually find your website. Promote your site to search engines, index pages, and include it in your traditional marketing campaign.

A final note: Place your phone number and contact information, or a link to that information, on every page of your website. There's nothing more frustrating than searching through an entire website only to find there are no phone numbers posted anywhere. Sometimes e-mail just doesn't cut it.

To learn good webdesign by looking at bad webdesign, visit www.webpagesthatsuck.com.