The Fifteen Common Mistakes Made by Website Designers

Volume IV, Issue 6
ISSN: 1547-7754
November 2006
printable version

Chris King, Editor
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In this issue of the Internet Tips E-zine, I decided to write about the most common mistakes made by website designers. These are in no particular order, but all are important. I have alluded to quite a few of these in previous issues of the Internet TIPS E-Zine, yet felt it was time to bundle them together in a quick, down-and-dirty fashion.

Whether or not you are a designer or would-be designer - everyone will tell you it is easy to create your own site - pay attention to these mistakes. They are what distinguish the professional from the amateur. They will also help or hinder your website’s placements on search engine listings. And, they will determine whether or not your visitors stay for a time at or leave - never to return - your website.

MISTAKE #1: Huge graphic files, along with too many graphics. These are the culprits that slow the downloading of a website. Resize the images and lower the resolutions before uploading to the website. Visitors have no patience for waiting to see your website.

MISTAKE #2: Confusing navigation. If visitors and/or the search engine spiders (that visit and index your website) can’t easily find their way around your website, they will leave as fast as a click of the mouse. I love using roll-over buttons, but also realize that for the spiders I need to post text-based links - usually at the bottom of the pages.

MISTAKE #3: The lack of a unique title for each and every page. I have a search engine guru friend who stresses the fact that so many pages lack this important feature. Without a title, your website pages will have little or no chance of showing up in the major search engines. When we include keywords in our titles, we increase our chances of top listings. These are important because no-one will find your website - just because you have built it.

MISTAKE #4: The use of “Mystery Meat.” Vincent Flanders and Dean Peters in their Web Pages that Suck books compare websites that are confusing - you don't know what they are about or where they are going - to mystery meat (meat disguised by gravy, etc.). Be obvious - most users are not into guessing what it's all about. They may surmise that we don't know either.

MISTAKE #5: Using Flash Intros for the home or landing pages. Even though these can be quite clever and design-rich, most web-surfers I know and talk with, hate them. They take time to load and often produce confusion and “mystery meat.” It is more expedient to use content that introduces you and/or your website to your visitor.

MISTAKE #6: No or little attention to the use of keywords. It used to be that we would load our meta tags with keywords and a description of what our website was all about. We should still do this, but most of the search engines don’t rely on these today. It is imperative that we use the important keywords throughout our website’s content.

MISTAKE #7: Adding animation for effect. In the beginning, everyone thought this was fun and cute. Maybe for a youngster’s website if used cleverly. But, animation gets old fast. It is like having a blinking neon sign outside your motel room’s window.

MISTAKE #8: Not using alt tags. Alt tags describe your graphics. They are especially for those visitors who have either turned off the graphics or who are using a reader program for the visually or aurally impaired. I find them to also be helpful in describing an object you want your visitors to click on.

MISTAKE #9: Failing to include sufficient contact information. My personal preference is to have contact information appear on every page of the website. You never know when the user will want to find out how to get in touch with you. I suggest having your address, phone number and a hot-linked e-mail address handy. Yes, this may be increase the amount of spam that is sent to your e-mail address, but I can live with that if I am easily accessible to potential clients.

MISTAKE #10: Not giving your visitor choices about running audio and/or video. Yes, audio messages and the use of video have become prevalent on the websites of today. And, yes they both tend to help with sales. Nevertheless, I suggest that you let your visitor decide whether or not to listen and/or watch. There are sites that start speaking to you the minute you land and anytime you land in the future.

MISTAKE #11: Making use of frames for the overall design. I don’t see the use of frames as often as I did in the past. You can tell that you are on a “frames” website when as you scroll down the page, the top of the page disappears behind the top banner. The biggest problem with frames is that none of the text content can be read by the search engine spiders, so your website will not be indexed by the searches.

MISTAKE #12: Including a counter (for number of visitors). First of all, your visitors could care less about knowing how many others have visited the site. Moreover, you can start the majority of counters at any number you wish, so they are not accurate and are meaningless. Counters usually spell “amateur.”

MISTAKE #13: Forgetting that “Content is King” - it always has been and always will be. People visit our websites for information. The better the information, the more chance that they will return again and again. The search engines grade the websites on the amount and value of our content.

MISTAKE #14: Letting your website become obviously out-of-date. In my book, this is one of the biggest robbers of credibility. We see it all of the time. When I see a calendar with dates of events from 2003, I feel immediately that the owner doesn’t care or doesn’t realize that it is imperative to keep the information and content timely.

MISTAKE #15: Thinking, “If I build it, they will come.” You have probably noticed how often I have mentioned the search engines and the importance of having a good listing. There are many other ways to be found and even obtain a great position on the searches. Check out the books on the right.

As with everything Internet-related, I have only “scratched the surface” of MISTAKES. If you avoid these fifteen, however, you will have a good start to a successful website.

Have a terrific and productive month!

Do send your comments and questions to me at chris@creativekeys.biz. I love to receive feedback and will answer your questions in future e-zines.

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