Bypass Serious Web Design Errors!

With online business competition higher than ever, there is no room for errors that affect the performance of a company's website. Sometimes all it takes is a single day of an improperly functioning page and traffic can drop substantially. The most profitable web pages are created with visitors in mind and incorporate certain protective elements to ensure they problems do not happen. Not only will this keep visitors on the page longer, it can greatly increase the chances of repeat visits and conversions of visitors to buyers.

Overview

Interestingly enough, some of the biggest web design errors are the use of elements that were actually created to enhance a visitor's experience. Anyone who has ever been on a web page that has exploded with music that is too loud with no control has experienced this. No matter how great a website may be, what counts is what happens the moment someone clicks onto it - which may be enough to ensure never going back again. Of course, this is completely counterproductive and a perfect example of design errors that can cost business.

Splash or Flash

Serious consideration should be given about using flash on a website, especially on a splash page. Splash pages have largely gone the way of the dinosaur, as most visitors want a fast response for information and do not want to sit through an animated show. In addition, flash used in any way tends to slow loading speed and will not run on all older systems, so it might be best to avoid it altogether. In a situation where using a splash page or flash is integral to the design or message, offering an obvious way to bypass it is essential.



Audio and Video

One of the biggest offenses with audio is for music to begin playing loudly the moment someone clicks on a page, with no obvious option to turn it off. Even if the music choice and volume seems appropriate, it will often offend more people than it pleases. It is much the same with video, although there are times when a video is important to a website. Still, it is better to simply consider offering a viewer the option to play it with an option to turn it off or bypass it altogether.

Navigation

The navigation of an internet page is another thing to consider as doing something different and unique is generally just a distraction and can even actually keep visitors from being able to travel around a website if the path cannot be determined. Navigation is one of those elements that is always better left alone; however, if one does decide to use creative navigation, there should also be a conventional method that is obvious and easy to use as well as a sitemap.

New Technology

There are constantly newer, better and faster ways to design a website being introduced; however, it is often a bit premature unless the targeted audience is one that can understand it all and had the hardware capable of running it. Many times cutting edge technology is not recognized by some operating systems or even some web browsers. New and improved is only improved once everyone is able to take advantage of it.

A typical website takes hours to create and many more hours to be ranked high by the browsers. Efficiency and profitability must be built over time. Certain elements may seem great from a designing aspect but are often a flop from a user approach, becoming page rank killers not builders. For a site where SEO and rank are important, the best advice is to stick to conventional design and avoid serious web design errors!

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