There are today literally billions of websites around the world, many are really great, others lets face it are plain bad. History has no doubt got something to do with it, the early websites being so bland cried out for something a bit flashy and yes, they got flashed, to death in many cases. Today Flash is being used less and less and now tends to be used for the bits it should be used for and not everything which as I say was the case not so long ago.
But Flash aside, is your site usable, is the text big enough, is it clear enough, can people work out how to get around, does the search button bring the results it should? The questions go on and on, but they are important. Make it too hard for someone to use your site and there are hundreds just waiting for that click.
Perhaps the great Alber Einstein sums it up the best with his comment "make it as simple as it needs to be. But no simpler".
Mind you, such words are not as useful as some good old fashioned tips, and the best is to make sure that your site works the way people expect it to, after all if you had a newspaper you'd not put the main headlines on page 3 (unless you were the Sun), why, because people expect to see the Headlines on the front page at the top. When it comes to the web, here's what people expect to see, break these rules at your peril..
- Company Logo at top left and make sure it links to the home page
- Use the about us page for company info
- Keep the navigation in the same place and make its use consistent
- Use the space at the top of the page carefully, anything flashing or just too bright may be considered to be an advertisment (banner ad), and if thats your navigation or an important message, well....
- Use the term Shopping Cart for your basket
- Make sure the page downloads quickly
- Remember people don't read web pages, they scan them, reading the headlines and any bold text, and then if they like what they see and it matches their needs, then and only then will they read the small print
There are many others, but bearing these in mind will help you keep and convert more visitors and that after all is the name of the game.
Please see our other articles on online marketing on our website www.i-o-m.com
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