Tweet

What makes a good website and the common mistakes to avoid

Written by: Paul Lock

Article Overview: 1. Follow the KYSS principle - how to create a powerful homepage 2. Designer sites that don’t sell – 7 mistakes to avoid 3. Your three most important watchwords – ‘content, content and content’ 4. How to keep people flocking to your site

What makes a good website and the common mistakes to avoid

1. Keep your site simple - KYSS

How many times have you tried to access a website
only to have to wait while the intro loads?

The main reason that people use the internet is to
get information. And they want it quickly. So, unless,
you’re a graphic designer, a special effects expert
or an audio-visual nut, the best advice I can give
you is forget the flashy graphics and focus on
the beef – the content.

Getting your homepage right

The first page most visitors will visit is your homepage.
I can’t emphasise enough how important it is that your
homepage sets out clearly, quickly and simply:

- what’s on your site
- where to find it
- how to contact you
- why they should explore further.

Everything else is subordinate to these four tasks.

As a general rule your homepage should look slightly different
to the rest of your site. It’s then recognisable as the base camp
to which visitors can return and explore from.

Don’t tell them – tell them what you’re going to tell them

A common homepage mistake is to write too much.

Decide what you want people to do – identify two actions and
focus on them. Everything else should be subordinate to
these two results.

Most people don’t read websites – they scan them. There are
billions of pages out there and life isn’t long enough to
read them all. Split your homepage into chunks so that visitors
can quickly assess whether there’s anything on your site they want.
Link to more detailed content on separate pages.

These pages should be written so that they appeal both to your
readers and the search engines. You need to include your
keywords and phrases so that the engines’ robots detect the high
relevance of your site to the keywords you’ve identified as
important in your market. We’ll cover this in greater depth
in another article.


2. Designer sites that don’t sell

Don’t misunderstand me, I like designers and I count some as
friends. And some are excellent website designers. But the
majority get websites wrong. Their mistake is that they think
the web is primarily visual. Actually, they think everything
is visual and words are a waste of space.

Wrong!

First of all search engines can’t read pictures; they read words.

Secondly when was the last time a salesman used pictures to
sell you something? Without talking!

And that’s what a website is – your 24/7 ‘talking’ salesman.
Many of the most profitable websites are downright
ugly – just like some salespeople– but they’re structured,
designed and written to:

- grab your attention
- stir your emotions
- build your interest
- get you involved
- develop your appetite
- establish credibility and trust
- persuade you to take action.

Which is great news because it means you don’t have to spend
a fortune on animation and graphics. Stick to the principles
of good salesmanship, treat your visitors like intelligent
human beings and you’ll be half way there.

If you want an effective, search engine friendly website,
things to stay away from include:

1. Intros designed in Flash, the animation technology for websites.
2. Revolving globes, bevelled line separators and animated mail boxes.
3. Too many pop-up or pop-under boxes.
4. Autoplay music. Let your customer choose to play music if
offering it strengthens your message.
5. Free hit counters saying "you’re the 27th visitor" – big deal.
6. Date and time stamps, unless you update your website daily
or weekly.
7. Busy backgrounds.

Focus on your core content, easy navigation, interactivity
and promoting your site to your target audience.

3.Content, content, content

It’s natural and desirable that you should want your website
to be well designed and professional looking. But it’s far more
important that you offer valuable content and promote your site
effectively.

How do you create good content? By focusing on your audience’s
needs, not on what you’re selling.

The internet is a vast warehouse of information. Most people – 75-90%
according to research – search for information through the search engines.
To get a good presence or ranking on search engines you need
quality content, now more than ever. This is because the search
engines have commercial links to the directories – directories
rank sites according to their editor’s opinions of their content.

The rankings at DMOZ.com, the open directory project, feed
directly into Google, AOL, Lycos, Hotbot and Alta Vista amongst others.
The LookSmart directory feeds its results into MSN and About.com.

You can create good content by, for example:

- offering objective analysis and commentary on your industry or subject
- inviting others to write articles for your site
(you can incentivise them by providing a link to their site or
allowing a subtle plug, provided they’re not competitors)
- providing a news digest
- listening to and addressing your customers’ concerns, worries,
enthusiasms and ideas
- subscribing to a syndicated content site like
http://www.ideamarketers.com

4. How to keep people flocking to your site

Remember – most people use the internet to get FREE information.
Content really is king so it follows that you need to refresh your
site at regular intervals or as topics arise in the news. People
need a reason to return to your site but if they find nothing new,
they may not give you a second chance.

Why not diarise website changes once a fortnight? If your site comes
with an easy to use content management system, you can make simple text and image changes yourself.

You can get ideas for new content from trade publications, the internet,
local media and good old fashioned creativity.

Special offers make great new content too and give you a reason to
contact your ‘opt-in subscribers’. We’ll discuss this technique
in a later article.

Related Articles
  Instant Article Writing Template: The Top Mistakes Article Writing Template Explained in Detail
  Tips For Internet Marketing Affiliate Programs
  Common Mistakes of Web Designing
  Common Mistakes of Web Designing
  Top 6 Mistakes in Web Development

Article Tags:



Related Forum Posts
Avoid Franchise Mistakes - I Came across these 7 tips for helping you avoid costly mistakes when buying a franchise & thought they would be helpful... It takes a lot of money to build a business, and you certainly don't want to waste any. Check this list of 7 costly mistakes to avoid. 1. Letting emotions rule. Falling in love with a franchise concept is a common mistake. Don't let your emotions guide your decisions. Use your head, do your due diligence and take the time to thoroughly investigate the franchisor's offering. 2. No professional team. Don't try to do your own financials, contract reviews, or negotiating. The cost of professional franchise attorneys, accountants, and advisors is money well spent. 3. Too little cash. Lack of capital is the number one reason franchisees fail. Item 7 in the UFOC will tell you how much money you'll need with a low and high range. Be smart-go with the high range. Then ask current franchisees if the numbers are high enough. 4. Penny wise and pound foolish. Choosing one franchise over another because the initial franchisee fees are lower is shortsighted. It assumes that all franchises are alike and nothing could be further from the truth. Choose the franchise with the proven concept and strongest track record. 5. Too much help. Payroll is the biggest part of overhead for most franchise businesses. New franchisees often hire too many people or pay too much in wages. A good franchisor will provide a good staffing plan. Stick to the plan. 6. No comparison. Never buy expensive equipment, supplies or inventory without shopping around first. Even if your franchisor offers group purchasing, do your own research, shop as many vendors as you can, consider aftermarket suppliers, and weigh different financing options (loans or leases). 7. Marketing blunders. As a new business owner, you're going to be targeted by every ad salesperson around. Ignore them. Follow your franchisor's marketing plan to the letter to avoid wasting thousands.
Re: Search Engine Friendly Coding - According to my experience, You should avoid flash and java script while making a website for online business promotion. These type of coding also increases website loading time so avoid it. You can also use external CSS "Cascading Style sheet" for placing images on website it will reduce website loading time.
7 Top Blog Design Tips - Most blog platforms come with some basic blog designs. They may call them templates or themes or something similar, and usually they are not bad although some customisation is pretty common. I often see some common mistakes, and hopefully you will be able to avoid them. 1. Include an about page Make it prominent and make it truly about you, not some resume-like page.If people find your blog and like what you have to say, they are going to want to know something about you. 2. Have contact information visible An email or maybe even a phone number should be included. Your email can be displayed as a graphic to prevent spammers from harvesting it easily. I would suggest using an address that has your domain at the end to be more professional. e.g tyrone @ internetbusinesspath.com, rather than tyrone @ gmail.com. Visible contact information will make you seem more real and although people may occasionally contact you, it will be far less often than you might think. 3. Include a picture of yourself Blogs are personal, even business blogs, and people who visit yours will want to know what you look like. It’s also easier to built trust if your picture is visible. Though, you don’t absolutely need a picture, but it’s strongly recommended. Sometimes people might think you are hiding something if you don’t have one. 4. Show a top posts or articles page Some of your blog posts are going to be much more popular than others (you may be surprised which ones they are). I call these your pillar articlesDon’t bury your pillar articles, your most popular blog posts. Highlight them somehow. You might for example have a top posts section in the titlebar or sidebar. I have a most top articles section and I list my most popular posts based on the ones that are read the most. Other people do it slightly differently. For example, Brian Clark at copyblogger.com has a “Popular Articles” in his sidebar and under that he lists his most popular blog posts. Yaro Starak, on his blog Entrepreneurs-Journey, calls his most popular blog posts “Popular Articles” and lists them at the very top.Somehow or another highlight them. You might do something as simple as create a category called “most popular” and include popular blog posts in that category. 5. Don’t have a blog banner that is too big! The banner is the top portion of your blog that goes across the top. It might have a picture of you there, the name of the blog, perhaps some graphic — they vary quite a bit.You don’t want your banner to be big. No one should need to scroll down to see your content. People decide really quickly when they first reach a Web Site, and that includes blogs, whether to read or to leave. 6. Create a visually appealing blog Avoid bright colors. Stick to reasonable fonts like Times New Roman and Arial. Have someone with a good eye look at your blog, preferably a graphic designer. Everytime I start a blog and I’ve started dozens for myself, for friends, and for clients, I always get a graphic designer to at least look at it after I am done. The problem is that it might look OK to you or me, probably neither having a particularly good eye nor appropriate training, but it still might look really ugly to others. Having a graphic designer take a quick look at it is good insurance. 7. Keep it simple silly! Some blogs are just so busy: they have one, two, sometimes three sidebars just crammed full of all kinds of stuff. With some of it you wonder why is it there. What purpose does this serve? Now in my opinion calendars are a prime offender. What good is a calendar there? Some people like them, but to me they serve no purpose. Empty space in a blog is not only allowable, but it’s a good thing. It helps focus eyes on what is important, which is your content and hopefully the few things you choose to put in your sidebar. Most blogs start with a basic template which is then customised over time. These tips will hopefully help you that with customisation and help you avoid common mistakes with blog design. Tyrone Shum Blog Tipster
Interview Questions - Hi Shri, I have a series of interviews with fast growing entrepreneurs on my website for startup entrepreneurs. It's called If I Were A Startup... I ask each entrepreneur 4 questions: 1) How did the company get started? 2) What advice do you have for new startup entrepreneurs? 3) What mistakes did you make that you would advice others to avoid? 4) If you were starting a new business in a different industry what would it be? These 4 questions tend to generate a lot of discussion and from their responses I'll ask more probing questions. Hope this helps!
Re: Hotmail Scam! - Hi David, Many people will fall for that, because they are innocent and don't know how to recognize the spam in all their junk. Another thing is the English. I only noticed the mistakes because you bolded (is this a word?) them. When we read, our mind know how to automatically change the mistakes to words we are familiar with. The other reason is for people like me that English is not their first language, and may never notice these mistakes, unless someone points them out.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Is the iPad useful? One CEO tells all ....

Self Employed Business Ideas - Making It Online

9 tips to increase ROI in PPC Campaigns

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.