13 January 2009
For the most part I’ve found that businesses either get the web or they don’t. In this article I will reveal a few simple rules, that if followed will allow you to successfully make a great website...

First of all I want to tell you that most of these guidelines are mostly common sense, which at times seems to be in a shortage on the web these days. For the most part I’ve found that businesses either get the web or they don’t. In this post I will reveal a few simple rules, that if followed will allow you to successfully make a great website.

Content Is King

By far the most important aspect of any great website is original, credible content.

Understand what your audience wants and give away that valuable, timely information.

Your sites should be updated on a regular bases and needs to be well edited.

Users don't read websites, they scan them.

Split pages into chucks of content for quick scanning

Link to only the best external sites and give descriptive text to give the user an understanding of the link prior to them clicking it.

Think of yourself as the editor of a magazine, don’t rush to publish something that is mediocre, but rather apply an extra bit of polish to your content to really make it shine.

Custom Tailored

One of the web’s biggest weaknesses and also strengths is the massive volumes of information. Customizing your content or better yet, your entire site to a targeted audience is your secret weapon against becoming lost on the web.

Think of the web as a vast ocean and your website as a boat. Now if a rescue team (your target audience) were looking for your boat in the middle of that ocean, could they? With custom tailored content that ocean becomes a lake and your likelihood of being found in a lake increases dramatically.

Front & Center

The front page (homepage) of your website should quickly tell the user four things:

1. What’s on your site: Don’t tell them on the homepage but rather tell them what you’re going to tell them. A very common, and easy to make mistake on a homepage is writing too much.
2. Where they can find what they are looking for
3. How to contact you: An email address, phone number, contact form etc.
4. Why they should explore further

Engage & Dominate

Interactivity with the user will make your site memorable through engagement. The web is an interactive medium where users are looking to be involved. If they don't find anything engaging within seconds they will quickly move on to the next site. So grab your visitors attention, stir their emotions, build their interest, and establish credibility and trust.

Don't Be THAT Guy

Here are a few of the things that every website should stay away from doing. If you are doing any of the following you have some work to do (give me a call;-).

Animated graphics and bright blinking text. A webpage is not Time Square, you don't need to scream.

Looping music which cannot be turned on and off by the visitor.

Video or music that plays without the user starting it. Allow your visitor to be engaged with your site and turn it on themselves

Busy backgrounds. Making the page to busy distracts from what you are really trying to say.

Images with large file sizes or too many images on one page. On a slow connection you will slooowly see why.

Bloated code which makes your web pages load slow (Microsoft Frontpage and other free/cheap programs tend to do this).

Exclamation points!!!! Don't annoy! your visitors with sensationalism!!!!!!!!!!

Text too similar in color to background. We are not all 16 years old with excellent eye sight

Text too small or too large

Difficult-to-read fonts like Courier or what I call frilly fonts

Long pages requiring long loading times and excessive scrolling

Splash screens, take me straight to the meat

Pop-ups unless used very sparingly and for a specific purpose

Scrolling frames - don't make people scroll in multiple places on one page just to see different parts of your page.