Ten aim mistakes to avoid - web-design

Avoid these mistakes and your site will be steps ahead of your competition.

1. Not forecast your site
Before you even have a website, you must have an idea, a focus. Why do you want a website? What are your plans and goals for the site? Sit down and draw out a map of likely pages and ideas for your site. Consist of your site's aim --whether it is to sell more creation or make the broadcast more aware of your issue -- anything it may be. Build your site from it's biting foundation (your goals) and you'll have a better, more solid site.

2. Flaw to put associate in rank in a plainly seen location.
This could be disastrous. If a patron doesn't see this information, they can't commerce you. You be supposed to care about a 'Contact Us' do up or link from your Home page. Even better, make a link to your email adopt in your description or footer, someplace that will show up on every page. Even if no one ever contacts you this way, just the attendance of this in order comforts edgy customers.

3. Cracked Links
Do you enjoy clicking on a explore conclusion only to get a Page Not Found Error? No one likes them. Check your site figures at least once a month (if not more) to make sure you don't have bad or busted links.

4. Outdated Information
A sure turn-off to a budding patron is the authority of old information. If it's July and your website is announcing the 'new' foodstuffs free in February, your site just lost major credibility. Make sure your in rank is up-to-date. Care about accumulation a 'Whats New' fasten or a Big business Blog.

5. Too Many Font Styles and Colors
This is a huge pet-peeve of my company. I've had associates ask me to appraise their website and the first thing I become aware of is 4 another fonts. It looks bad, unorganized and unappealing. Another ensign may be a focus for the eye for a short time, but devoted broken or or else brainy fonts (and graphics!) befit annoying. Beware, this is a sure-fire way to scare citizens away from your site!

6. Thing Pages
Every website has a heirarchy, a sort of tree that undergrowth out from the Home Page. While most of your visitors visit you by means of your home page, there are times when a page auxiliary down happiness someone, and they may copy that link and send it to a friend. This is where you need to pay attention. That ally may like what you have to offer, but they can't find out how to associate you, or how to get back to your Home Page. That's an thing page. Every page on your site should, at a minimum, have a link back to your Home page. I would advise accumulation a call link at minimum.

7. Frames
Frames at one time were the talk of the industry. They were the earliest Contented Management Approach (CMS) for your site. In our time they are few and far between. If you are manipulative a site, don't use frames. Newer technologies such as server-side includes are much more collective and accepted. Your pages look fresher and those silly bars don't get in the way.

8. Disabling the BACK badge and too much Pop-Ups
Have you been to a website and certain that it wasn't the in order you were looking for? When you clicked the BACK button, did you out of the blue get a dam of windows (or, pop-ups) to your dismay? These clothes not often in fact work, and worse off, the basis you hit the BACK close is as you DIDN'T want any more in a row from that site. Don't break the BACK button. There are other ways to get your user's attention.

9. Slow loading pages
While not public and hobby sites may as normal be slow, there must be no basis for your commerce or other expert website to be slow loading. Today's Internet surfer won't wait long for in rank from your site - there are too many others with the same thing! Make sure your pages load quickly. If the ma?tre d' is slow, believe a another host. If your webpages are full of applets or large graphics, be concerned about a page/site redesign.

10. Using Leading-Edge Technology
While the Internet is all about new and fancy stuff, don't be the first to do it. While it may 'look cool' to you, you finally need to choose if it in reality enhances your user's experience. Do the flash cartoons make your patron more apt to buy from you? Doubtless not. How many of your customers have to bed in a Plug-In just to see your page right? Do they have to upgrade their browser to call you? Not good. Wait until the knowledge is both more of a average or gone - you'll save face with aptitude and coming customers.

About the Author

Will Hanke is a self-proclaimed geek who owns and operates Lighthouse Technologies (www. techlh. com), a web change and hosting ballet company based in ArnoldMissouri. For questions or comments, email him at will@techlh. com. And buy manually a good virus curriculum so he doesn't have to fight your emails with anti-virus spray.