The first paragraph of an article is a summary of its content, designed to capture the reader's attention. This article discusses the common mistakes made by webmasters that can lead to a decrease in site traffic and user engagement. These mistakes include slow loading pages, splash screens, and demanding the download of plugins to view the site. The article also highlights the importance of considering the user's perspective when designing a website, and provides tips on how to create a user-friendly site.
Webmasters are well aware of the detrimental effects of slow loading pages and splash screens. They also understand the inconvenience of requiring users to download plugins to view their site. However, many continue to violate other fundamental rules of web design, seemingly oblivious to their existence. The repercussions of these violations are immeasurable, as they deter potential customers who might have made purchases if they had stayed on the site longer.
When a visitor lands on your site, their primary concern is not about you, your site, or the effort you put into creating it. Their main question is, "What's in it for me?" You only have a few seconds to provide a satisfactory answer. So, why clutter the first screen with a giant logo or a glaring, bright red slogan sprawled across the page? Why distract them with a blue and purple object spinning wildly on the right? These elements do not answer the user's question. Instead, they drive the mouse cursor towards the Back button.
A common mistake I've noticed is the statement, "This site is best viewed with your browser window adjusted to 800 x 600 pixels." If I see a horizontal scroll bar, I already know this. Why waste valuable space stating the obvious? And if you think I'm going to adjust my window dimensions to suit you, you're mistaken.
While other aspects of your website are important, nothing is more crucial than providing pages that are quick and easy to read. Can you draw your visitors past your headline? Do your sub-headings capture attention? Will one of them slow your visitor long enough to start reading the body copy you painstakingly crafted?
Yes, the Web is new. But some things don't change. Long before the Web was conceived, we knew that the maximum line length for easy reading was 65 characters. This rule still holds true today. Violate it at your own risk.
New Times Roman, or a close relative, may be the preferred font in the print world, but it means nothing on a computer monitor. In print, the serifs in Times Roman make it easy to read; they accent the character for quicker identification. But on a monitor, these same serifs slow reading by over 20% due to pixel limitations.
Since reading is about 25% slower on a monitor compared to printed material, you need to make a special effort to produce copy that is quick and easy to read. Use Arial or Verdana. The latter is best as there is more space between characters, which helps avoid the big black globbiness of large blocks of text.
Forget about screen-sized logos and company slogans. Answer the question: "What's in it for me?" Make it easy to read your page and copy. Avoid animation and flash, as they only distract the reader. Keep the reader's attention focused on the link and the action you want them to take. If their attention is diverted by a whirling gizmo, will it ever return to your link? Maybe, but I wouldn't bet on it.
Never, Ever Release Any Of Your Rights To Anyone
One of the grandest scams on the Web, which goes largelyunnoticed, is for a web-based bookseller or publisher to requiresome rights to your work in exchange for the service to beprovided. Many demand the electronic rights, for example.
How Well Do You Know Your Perfect Customer?
Your Perfect Customer is real only in your mind. He or sheis the one individual most representative of your target. Theone to whom you always speak one-on-one in your newsletter andon your site.
Does Search Engine Traffic Matter?
The short answer is, "Sure." And it likely always will.But the amount of free traffic search engines now deliver tomany small online businesses doesn't amount to much. And whatthere is of it continues to decline in importance. Pay-for-submission models are rapidly eliminating free options.
