We all make mistakes now and then — and recover. Heck, does anyone really think Miley Cyrus is finished because of her pictures in Vanity Fair?
The same holds true with Web sites. Making a mistake on your site is not a huge deal because you can quickly edit and fix things. Still, it occurred to me you might appreciate knowing some of the “rookie mistakes” that I often see pop up on new Web sites posted in our Show and Tell forum. (You may not agree with all of them, but it’s my blog post and you’ll have your turn in a minute.)
So here’s my list of 10 things you probably don’t want to do on your Web site:
1. Label the Home page “Home.” We all get it; no need to waste valuable real estate as long as you have Home listed in your nav.
2. Hide what your business is about. People have short attention spans; make sure there’s a clear statement about what you do and where you do it high up on your home page.
3. Decide more is better when choosing fonts, colors and/or moving objects. It’s not. A hodge-podge design may make your site visitors queasy.
4. Apologize for your Web site. People don’t need to know it’s your first venture online or that you’re just starting out in business. Appear confident — even if you don’t feel confident.
5. Overwhelm visitors with too much information too soon. Think of your home page as the magazine cover with photos and headlines so enticing people want to hurry inside for more details.
6. Settle for sloppy spelling and grammar. Look as professional as possible or people may assume your work is as sloppy as your grammar.
7. Post “under construction” pages. These frustrate visitors, so try to build your site in stages. And keep in mind it’s very simple to hide pages until they’re finished. Just sign into your account, click Web site, find the page you want to hide and click Properties. Under Navigation, uncheck the box next to Show this page in the Navigation bar. Click OK. When the page is finished, go back in and check the box.
8. Use poor quality photos. Strong photos can have a huge impact; weak ones suggest you don’t care or can’t be bothered. Spend the time or the bucks to get decent photos.
9. Create a logo on the fly. Stringing a few words together and calling it a logo usually comes across as pretty lame. (And it is.) Better to check out the free custom logo offer on our Special Offers page.
10. Forget about your customers. Sometimes in the dash to get a Web site together folks forget to step back and view the site as a customer would. It may sound odd, but your Web site isn’t really about you.
So that’s my top 10 list of rookie mistakes. Now you’re up to bat. Agree with my list? Disagree? What did I miss?
Skip Chilcott