Whether you’re creating a web site for your small business on your own or hiring a web design company to do it for you, here are six common mistakes that you should avoid to ensure that success of your web site and your small business.
1. Using Images That Are Too Large
Picture paint a thousand words but if you’re using high resolution pictures on your homepage and just merely pulling the corners to shrink it, you should be aware that these may take a while to load depending on the connection of your readers. And in this age of quick results, the 10 or 20 seconds required to load your gamut of pictures may mean the difference for people to stick around or move on to the next site.
2. Creating Pages That Are Too Large
Be conscious of the size of the page. You may have selected or designed a site with an unusually large resolution, meaning that people who visit your site won’t get the complete picture of the site initially. People would then be required to scroll left to right just to view the complete site, something most people won’t be willing to do if they’re in a hurry. Be sure to choose a resolution that can be viewed by most monitors, say 640×480 or 800×600.
3. Forgetting to Update Content Regularly
If you’re site has been around for a while, be sure that you update the information on the site, this includes the contact information, areas under headings such as “latest news”, and especially the copyright information, if you have one. If you’ve got items in this section which are 5 or 6 years old, then these are no longer news, they’re history so file them in your archives. Readers want to be kept abreast about the latest activities in your business or site, so make sure you post the most recent articles, items or information.
4. Creating Unfriendly Navigation
Don’t let your visitors get lost within your site, make sure you have user friendly navigational tools, such as buttons, clear links or drop down menus to make things clear and easy to understand. If you’re hiring someone to do it, treat your site like an outline and give web designer a written outline of how you want your site to be and what topic falls under which category.
5. Putting Up Blank Pages
Avoid blank pages, they’re a waste of time, space and money. Additionally, this would give readers the impression that you don’t maintain your site regularly. If you find yourself with a blank page, either fill it up with additional information or discard it, it deserves closure and you need clients.
6. Self-Designing Without Having the Required Skills
Unless you’re truly web savvy and know your HTML for your Java, it would be advisable for you to hire a professional do your site. Getting the services of a small business web design company saves you time when your site could be running and the frustration of figuring out how things are done. What is important is you know what you want and you can clearly articulate this idea to your designer then all you have to do is tweak the site based on the output. Be conscious of the fact that a professional looking website reflects on your company.
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