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  Top 10 Mistakes Made by New Web Site Owners (continued) The average Web site visitor will give you about 10 seconds (on a good day) to "sink or swim." Nothing will sink you faster than making them wait for your message. Don't sacrifice download speed for "cool" effects and flashy presentations. If visitors want to see your multimedia presentation, they will intentionally click on a button to go there. Recommendation: Build your Web pages to download fast, check download times with a dial-up connection, and by all means, don't scrimp on the cost of a good Web site host.
Requiring a certain browser or plug-in to view your site properly is like saying "if you don't have plug-in X or use browser-X, we don't want your patronage or money." No business owner would say this to a customer in person. Recommendation: If you want to reach the masses, you need to design for them. If you're not sure how many of these visitors are currently using your site, check your visitor log or contact us to help.
Building a basic Web site is fairly easy and is accomplished everyday by kids, adults, and seniors. While appearance is highly subjective, an amateur appearance can kill visitor confidence in your organization. Consistency across pages is also important. If you introduce new graphic elements, new navigation, and various other items, your visitors will get lost. Recommendation: Work with a professional designer to create a site worthy of your reputation.
See above bullet. The great thing about the Web is the ability to quickly jump from one item to another item via links. In the design process, this can translate into a very complex navigation structure if not well thought-out and kept in check. For simplicity sake, there should be no more than two areas of navigation on a page. Recommendation: The main navigation should be links (or buttons) that take you to pages that represent the heart of your site (i.e., your product or message, your credentials, your contact information.) Secondary navigation should be links that take you to items of lesser importance (i.e., career opportunities or affiliations.) If you want navigation to every page on your site, consider a site map.
You'd might be surprised how many sites fail to introduce themselves and state their message clearly on their main entry Web pages. Give the visitor a reason to click into your site. Recommendation: Tell them what you do and why they should do business with you in less than 100 words.
Errors on your pages? Broken links? Would you hand someone a business card torn in-half? How about a brochure missing the front page? Recommendation: Because Web designers have a wide-range of experience, you'll want to make sure your Web pages meet standards and display properly on the most popular browsers.
Nothing will anger your visitors more than the lack of "traditional" contact information, i.e., a phone number. If someone takes the time to visit your site and they consider contacting you, they should be able to easily find a way to reach an actual human. Forms for taking customer input, email links, and real-time communication tools are great but people still like the human touch. Recommendation: Make sure contact information is easily found from all pages of your Web site and that contact information is current. If you take online input via a form or email, establish a method that ensures a quick reply to all messages.
Old, irrelevant, and misspelled content hurts your professional reputation. Recommendation: Work with a professional writer or editor. Keep your content fresh. Make sure it is relevant to your main message. Run spell check.
Recommendation: If you move or rename a Web page, make sure to leave a redirecting page. Your visitors, linking sites, and the search engines will thank you.
New Internet technologies arrive daily. Some take the industry by storm and receive mass public acceptance. Others are slow to catch-on. Some never do. Recommendation: Before you jump on the latest technology, ask yourself why you should and what it does to reinforce your message. Consider the potential for alienating your visitors by utilizing a non defacto standard technology.
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