10 common website mistakes

Unfortunately, there are some things we do because that's the way they've always been done. The web is no different and many web designers and website owners are guilty of this.

The common misconception is that if large companies do it, then it must be a good idea. Here are my personal thoughts on the most common mistakes on the web. I won't explain each point. Have a think about them and if you need more info just drop us a line or call on 1300 EFRONT. Sorry for the long post.

1 - Domain Names

• If the core of your domain name is more than 12 characters, it's too long.
• A name that's easy to remember is a good thing.
• Don't use wacky spelling e.g. krazydayze.com.au (unless it can help make it memorable)
• Make sure people can access your site without the www. in front of the domain (many domains for some reason are not setup for this).
• If you have a domain name - use it for your email (somethign@yourdomains.com.au) not your ISP account (something@iprimus.com.au). Seriously, why promote your ISP's domain. It also gives you flexibility when it comes to changing ISPs.

2 - Reduce spam from your web site

• Use a combination of javascript and obfuscation to conceal your email address from spam robots.
  
  Don't do the following...
• Don't reverse your email address and ask the user to unreverse it- ua.moc.niamod@gnihtemos = something@domain.com.au. (yes we have seen this, seriously)
• Don't make your visitors just use a contact form - make your email visible.
• Don't present your email address like this - sales2007nospam@somedomain.com.au and then tell visitors to 'remove the nospam from the address'
• Don't present your email like this - something AT somewhere dot com dot au

3. Support Systems

• Do you need one? Can your processes be improved to a point that would make a support form obsolete?
• Can you support a support system? How prompt is your response, and will this just frustrate people more?
• Tell people when they should expect an answer of some kind from a real life person (not an automated/canned response)
• Don't make people jump through hoops before they get to use the form. Give people the answers they need when they need them (during their process).
• Online Chat - "Currently Unavailable", how many times have you seen this - why bother offering?
• If you are using a system, please evaluate the automated responses that get emailed out. How many times do you find that you log a case, then the following email barrage occurs...
  
  You get an email...
  - to say you've logged a case,
  - another email saying it's been opened or received,
  - you've may have had the need to change some details, so you get another email saying it's been changed,
  - your ticket is then been updated by the support person so another email comes through,
  - then you close it and you get another email saying it's closed,
  - then another email asking for feedback about your experience,
  - then you get another email saying thanks for the feedback.
  

4. Registrations

• Why do your visitors need to register at all?
• When do people need to register? Before or at the end of the process? Don't make visitors register just to look around. Chances are you will either get dud information or you will lose a visitor. It also reflects badly on your business.
• Restrictive Usernames/Passwords - don't make people use 8+ digits passwords that contain numbers, characters and then some kind of punctuation e.g. plea5e_make_!t_stop_43. It's the sort of thing Microsoft would make you do.
• Unnecessary Information - Don't ask for things you are really not going to use. The user needs to feel that the information they are providing is essential. E.G. don't ask for addresses unless you are sending/delivering something. Don't ask for phone numbers unless you are planning to call. The key here is "planning to use" NOT "may one day use".

5. Images

• Animated Gifs - these look bad and are really annoying. Nothing screams amateur more than an animated image that's plucked off the web and placed on a website.
• Un-optimised Images - Be aware of your image file size. Resize for your page, don't just squash a large image on the page so it fits. It will look bad, take ages to load and say "I don't really care about my site". You don't need software to do this - you can resize images online here if you need.
• Bad Pictures - take the time to get good images. They don't need to be great, just not really bad.
• Image formats - here is a simple rule... photos should be jpeg - cartoon type images gif. If you get this wrong, your images will look bad and the file size will be larger than needed.

6. Content

• Out of date information is bad - enough said.
• Doesn't exist (coming soon pages) - Don't have a link to a page that has a coming soon message.
• Language - less is more.
• Don't use elaborate fonts like Comic Sans for text, stick with the plain fonts.
• Don't use Comic Sans (can't be over emphasized).
  
• Don't center align everything or make everything a heading
• Break up your content with space - don't be afraid to use the return key.

7. Advertising

• Pop up ads are bad, annoying and make people angry.
• Load times - advertising slows down your site.
• Links within text that go to advertising are bad, e.g. you have an article about dieting, and you make the word "dieting" a link. Visitors click on this link thinking they are going somewhere they can get more information about dieting, but you've sent them to a bookstore where they can buy a diet book.
• If you already sell products on your site, don't advertise competitors' products.

8. Search

• 99% don't work
• Test yours and if you find it doesn't work well use Google within your site - you can have a Google search on your site that will just return pages from your site.
• Try finding something on any large corporate website and you will see what I mean.
  

9. Animation and Sound

• Do you need a flash intro and if so does your visitor need it?
• Don't play music on your site automatically.
• Don't play music on your site automatically.
• Don't play music on your site automatically.
• Don't play a sound when people mouse over or click a link
• Sound should only be used on sites where people expect sound - YouTube, movie preview sites, kids sites.

10. Various

• Hit Counters - bad. You should have statistics available for that info.
• Status Bar Messages - annoying and bad
• Screen resolution messages- This website is best viewed at a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. This type of message is a waste of space and assumes your visitors have multiple monitors on their desk that they can switch to.
• Bookmark this site messages - if your site is good enough, people will bookmark it.
• Spaces in page names and links - spaces cause this http://www.yourdomain.com/link%20here.html use underscores instead of spaces e.g. http://www.yourdomain.com/link_here.html.
• Java in applications is good. - Java in web pages is bad (java is different to javascript)
• Frames are just bad
• Borders on tables and frames are bad
• Parchment type backgrounds are bad.
  

Well, that's not a comprehensive list, just stuff off the top of my head.

I feel better now that I have that off my chest.

David

Posted on Tuesday, January 30, 2007

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