Web Design Mistakes...
          Is your site actually losing you sales?
          By Lisa S. Lawless, Ph.D., Holistic Wisdom C.E.O.

You must make sure your site is in perfect condition: optimized, using little javascript, no frames, high keyword density, perfect metatags, etc. to be successful on the web. . If you hire a web designer, don't hire someone without ecommerce skills... anyone with some artistic talent and knowledge of professional web design programs can create a beautiful site for you... but beware! If they build you a site that is beautiful, but not "ecommerce friendly," you may be losing sales because of it.

Did you know that the average web surfer will only wait about 4 seconds for a home page to download before they lose interest. If you have a web site that is not optimized well... your potential client may not even wait around to see your beautiful sight.

Here are some tips to assist you in creating a beautiful and optimized site, or at least knowing the right questions to ask of the person designing it for you~

Lack of Biographies
Web studies showed that users want to know the people behind information on the web site they are visiting. In particular, biographies and photographs of the authors help make the your site a less impersonal place and increase trust.

Slow Server Response Times
Slow response times are the worst offender. There are several reasons for this in web site design. The top two reasons are~

1) Bloated graphic design, too many graphics or too of big graphics;
    or using applets where plain or Dynamic HTML would have done
    the trick.

2) Slow server time from your web host. To read more about web
     hosting and it's importance you see my next article on this page.

Users don't care why response times are slow. All they know is that the site doesn't offer good service: slow response times often translate directly into a reduced level of trust and they always cause a loss of traffic as users take their business elsewhere. So invest in a fast server and get a consultation with a performance expert such as myself or with another reputable company to review your system architecture and code quality to optimize response times.

The main page of your web site should load in 8 seconds or less with a 56K modem. According to two surveys, conducted by Forrester Research and Gartner Group, ecommerce sites are losing $1.1 to $1.3 billion in revenue each year due to customers click-away caused by slow loading sites. If a page takes too long to load, your potential customer will not wait. Ultimately costing you business.

Avoid designs that look like advertisements
      Examples of such designs include:

Banners
Try to avoid placing banner exchange banners at the top of your page. These can instantly take your customers or even be indexed by Search Engine robots. Limit the number of banners on your site to no more than two per page.

Web surfers have also developed "banner blindness," which means that they avoid fixating their eyes on anything that looks like a banner ad due to shape or position on the page.

Animation
These can be very distracting and can cause your page to look unprofessional. In addition, animated graphics cause your page to load more slowly. Fancy graphics won't make the sale. Your main page should specifically let your visitors know exactly what you're offering. How many times have you visited a site and never figured out exactly what they were selling?

Web surfers have also developed "animation avoidance," which means that visitors to your site will make attempts to ignore areas with blinking or flashing text or other aggressive animations. Give your user some peace and quiet to actually read the text!

Too Many Or "Non-Cookie" Pop-up Windows
Pop up windows really work when done correctly. If however, you keep them small, concise, and you only provide one or two on your site. You must also install your pop up windows with cookies so that they do not keep popping up when your users go from one page to another. When that happens you end up annoying your potential clients rather than appealing to them.

Opening New Browser Windows
Designers open new browser windows on the theory that it keeps users on their site. But the strategy is self-defeating since it disables the Back button which is the normal way users return to previous sites. Users often don't notice that a new window has opened, especially if they are using a small monitor where the windows are maximized to fill up the screen. This will just leave a user who tries to return to your site, confused by a grayed out Back button.

Using Frames
Using frames in a web page is very confusing for users since frames break the fundamental user model of the web page. All of a sudden, you cannot bookmark the current page and return to it (the bookmark points to another version of the frameset), URLs stop working, and printouts become difficult. Even worse, the predictability of user actions goes out the window.

Gratuitous Use of Bleeding-Edge Technology
Using the latest technology before it is even found reliable, is a sure way to discourage users. If their system crashes while visiting your site because of your programming, you can bet that many of them will not be back. Unless you are in the business of selling Internet products or services, it is better to wait until some experience has been gained with respect to the appropriate ways of using new techniques.

Complex URLs
Even though machine-level addressing like the URL should never have been exposed in the user interface, it is there and we have found that users actually try to decode the URLs of pages to infer the structure of web sites. Users do this because of the horrifying lack of support for navigation and sense of location in current web browsers. Thus, a URL should contain human-readable directory and file names that reflect the nature of the information space. Also, users sometimes need to type in a URL, so try to minimize the risk of typos by using short names with all lower-case characters and no special characters.

Orphan Pages
Make sure that all pages include a clear indication of what web site they belong to since users may access pages directly without coming in through your home page. For the same reason, every page should have a link up to your home page as well as some indication of where they fit within the structure of your information space.

Long Scrolling Pages
Only 10% of users scroll beyond the information that is visible on the screen when a page comes up. All critical content and navigation options should be on the top part of the page.

Lack of Navigation Support
Don't assume that users know as much about your site as you do. They always have difficulty finding information, so they need support in the form of a strong sense of structure and place. Start your design with a good understanding of the structure of the information space and communicate this structure explicitly to the user.

Outdated Information
Maintenance of your web site is a cheap way of enhancing your content since and keeping visitors coming back to see your "fresh" material.

Contact Information
Always, include your contact information on each page of your site and try to reply to all comments and suggestions within 48 hours. This will help promote good business relationships. Your business relationships are the key to your success.

Grammar & Spelling
ALWAYS check and double-check your site for grammar and spelling errors and make sure your images and links are all working properly. If you have several errors, this will make your site appear to be unprofessional, and keep you out of directories like Yahoo! If you are designing your site using an HTML editor, use spell check.