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11 Web Design Flaws To Avoid
June 9, 2008
There are a few common errors people make when they start a website, well they are not quite errors because a person may want it to be a certain way. On the other hand if your focused on user experience, and what’s best for your readers then it would be best to make the design of the blog as easy as possible for them to get to what they want.
In this case here are some tips on what you should avoid doing. This will help you have a better user friendly site as far as your design goes.
Do not use fancy fonts - Fonts that are difficult to understand, you don’t want your reader to have to squint their eyes or have trouble reading the content. Avoid being fancy and try to deliver the message in the best format possible.
Clear description of your sites main focus - The visitor must be able to determine what the site is mainly about within seconds of arriving at your site. You must make it easy for them to do this, or else they will go elsewhere to find the information they need. A tag line below the title is a good solution for this i.e YourSite.com - “Where webmasters share monetization tips and strategies.”
Don’t require visitors to register - Try avoiding this unless it’s absolutely necessary and it’s how you want your site to work. The logic is pretty simple, when your in need of information do you want to stop and fill out a registration form? Chances are no, make it easy to get to the content and don’t require registration.
Do not mix ads with content - Do not, I repeat do not mix ads inside of the content, i.e in the beginning paragraph, middle, before or end. Yes this can increase your click through rate, but it will harm you in the long run. Avoid using this in any of your “important” sites. I use a simple horizontal link unit before the post, which seems to be more decent then the contextual ads yet I still do not recommend it. I use it as I am experimenting with the monetization of my site, and in your case you should only be doing the same “experimenting” which is always good - but don’t make it a permanent thing.
Do not use introductions - Don’t force someone to read, watch or do anything, in order to access the real content. Chances are you will lose a lot of visitors in the long run, and the only people that will stay is if what you offer is very unique to them.
Never ever use pop-ups - It doesn’t matter what kind, pop-ups, peel back pop-ups, pop-unders, or any kind of pop-up whatsoever, they are annoying to the majority of people and will take sophistication away from your site.
Subscriptions with out consent - It is very important that you don’t subscribe a visitor to anything whatsoever with out their consent when they leave a comment or send you an email of some sort.
No music - Please avoid using any sort of music on your site, no music, no matter what kind. Try avoiding this, many webmasters tried this early on and they all failed horribly.
Simple navigation structure - It is important that your site is easily navigated. I can’t tell you the frustration that goes through my mind when I go to a site, and It’s difficult to get to the content I need simply because everything is unorganized, and everything is all scattered around.
Doorway page - Do not use a landing page that leads to your blog where all the good stuff is, once again you want your readers to get to the content as fast as possible. Link to the page directly!
Contact info - The worst thing on the Internet has to be a website with no contact details whatsoever. Make sure you include your contact details! Most importantly respond promptly or it defies the point all together.
These are just a few of the tips for you to apply to your website or blog. Applying this will make sure who ever visits your site will less likely become frustrated trying to find what they need and hit the X at the top right hand corner of your browser. In other words your site will be easier to navigate, and more user friendly.
Yes these are all good tips. Particularly never use pop-ups! I can not stand going to a site and having some big flash ad pop up at me.
Likewise my friend, it has to be at the top of the annoying list, when it comes to using the Internet.