Other misdemeanours worthy of website ASBO
Calls to actions
Don't forget to display location and phone number prominently. Websites are frequently used by a customer looking at it while calling the company. Many businesses find that customers will refer to something on the site whilst buying products or ordering services on the phone. It is also the law now to display all of the registered information about your company if you trade online
Page not found (404)
This is a cardinal sin which can often give the impression that a company has failed to keep their site up-to-date, lost control or in the worst cases it can make it appear as if the business has closed down. Users seldom return to see if the problem has been fixed – they simply go elsewhere.
However, it is unrealistic to say that there will never be a broken link from somewhere to your site. You are not in control of outside forces, so make your 404 page work for you. Instead of just an error page, you can show a clear and concise sitemap helping the user find what they were really looking for.
Nonsensical URL's
The advent of Content Management Systems in the early 2000's led to a large number of websites only appearing to have one page : www.example.com/showapage.asp?pageid=10032
Search engines will often not look past the ? and so the site is never properly indexed. Content Management Systems are more advanced now so this should not be necessary.
Out-of-date content
This is obvious we know, BUT what does this say about your company? How up to date are your news stories? Are you talking about events you will be attending that have already happened?
No consideration of Accessibility
Can the user change the text size? View a text only version? Change colour schemes to high contrast?
No landing pages
Placing unnecessary stages between arrival at a site and the end goal will only irritate a visitor. They should only be a maximum of three clicks from a relevant piece of information.
Over-use of Flash
There is a reason Flash designers were forced to build in a ‘skip intro’ function; nobody has the time to sit through an often pointless, tedious intro sequence. A significant percentage of users leave a website at this point. We have nothing against Flash when used intelligently, however search engines ignore Flash-based sites in their rankings, due to the content being invisible. There is no doubt that there are many websites that have been enhanced by some element of movement or interaction that would be clunky in HTML, but please consider the pros and cons of building a site in this way.
Slow loading
Time is money, visitors are unlikely to want to spend more of either without reward. Expecting a potential client to wait for your infrastructure to kick into gear is just as annoying as waiting too long to be served in a restaurant, in either case, a would-be customer may simply go elsewhere.
Constraining the Design
Users of the modern web are used to scrolling the page up and down. They really don't mind. As long as you keep the prominent information 'above the fold' there is no need to restrict the height of your website.
Restricting the width is a whole different matter. User research suggests that horizontal scrolling is an annoyance. However, you should still take into account those with large screens. There is no point designing for the lowest common denominator of 800 pixels wide and then wasting all of the screen real estate of a user with a 30" screen.
Design for all widths - make it look good in 800px but allow the design to expand as wide as the user wants.
We hope the above has been of interest in furthering your online business. Apply for your FREE website analysis today. We can help you avoid the shame of the seven biggest website crimes.
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