What bad can one do to a website? Plenty! But here are few big ones to worry about. If you have done any of these eight things to your website then undo them now!
- Pop Ups and Back Button redirects
Let’s face it, no one likes popups! Popup blockers are around for a good reason. So stop it for the love of God! Stop the back button redirects while you are at it. Getting false page loads and faking time to leaves stats by forcing viewers to close the tab is just plan annoying! - Flash Intros and loading screens
Most folks just want to get to the meat of a website as soon as possible. Load times are a huge factor in viewer retention for a reason. Why add to that wait time with a load screen? - Horizontal Scrolling
Scrolling text was huge in the nineties. This is not the nineties. Trade that scrolling mess with a nicely done rotating banner. - Slow Load Time
Don’t load your site down with heavy images and things the viewer must load automatically. Don’t use cheap hosting that shares your bandwidth too many other websites. - Overuse of Ads
A few ads here and there aren’t too bad. Too many ads are just like popups, no one likes them. If you don’t know the right amount then skip the ads. Let the website be about real content. - Lots of Moving Graphics
Too much going on will surely drive viewers away. Crawling screens that jump and move are long dead. Have a few eye catching elements can be tastefully done. Too much eye catching is just plain distracting. - Automatic Music
Nothing more annoying than loading a website at work and having half the office hear some odd website’s music. This is a for sure fire way to get someone to hit the back button. - Missing Contact Information
This is huge. I have touched on it in other posts. Not all sites need a phone number posted. Not all sites need a physical address listed. However put some way for viewers / customer to reach you for any reason. A contact form is great place to start.
If you have any of the issues above then perhaps your site is in need of help. Most the things list here are from dated sites but you will be surprised at how many site still have these issues.
Jason
Mohawkhost.com