If you have a smaller office, even a midsized office, you may not be spending as much time on your company website as you should. However, company websites are just as big a deal for tiny businesses as large ones. In fact, maybe more so, because your website is a great and cost effective way to reach plenty of people you might otherwise not reach.
To make your website a success, avoid these common mistakes...
Broken links: Too many on the site, and I'm outta there. Broken links drive everyone crazy; fix them.
No homepage link, major headers, or titles: Or better yet, no breadcrumb trail at all. If people can't retrace their steps easily on your site, it's a big issue.
Pop-up anything: If you really feel the need to have pop-up ads, or pop-up "please subscribe to my newsletter" deals, that's fine, but I likely won't be back. Pop-ups slow me down, make me irritated, and I'm less likely to like your site or business. Be very careful with pop-ups. A well placed subscribe link might work just as well.
Leaving your website as a stand alone: If you have a website, it should make its way onto any print material you have. People don't find your site by sheer magic. Add that url to everything you send out.
Failure to work with all browsers: Personally I like Firefox, but some people use Internet Explorer, Flock, or another browser. Your site can look different in each, in some cases. Also forms can be perfect in one browser and funky in another. Check it out.
Having the 50 ft long page: A blog that goes on and on with no new page in site. A website that makes you scroll down to see products. Guess what; both are annoying. Make your pages short and sweet - this is where links come in handy - use them.
This is just the tip of the iceberg though. There are plenty of mistakes you can make on website design and functions.
If you're setting up your own site, I suggest reading Hot Text and Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability before you get started. Both are excellent and fun to read, and will allow your website to be 100% better than if you go it alone.
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Tracked on: June 1, 2008 11:46 PM | Permalink to Trackback