1.
Animation
Seven year-olds like watching animated cartoons
on Saturday morning, business people, professionals
and most other adults don’t. Sites that include
showy Flash animations as an ‘Intro’,
animated gifs on every page, or flying words are
really annoying. They take away from the content
and distract the visitor from achieving their goals.
Unless your site is an entertainment site, try to
avoid maddening motion. However, if your product
or service can be better demonstrated using Flash,
Quick Time, or other multimedia, which is common,
offer your visitors the chance to click a link to
view it. But don’t force them.
2.
Too much scrolling
Once I scroll down a full screen’s worth,
my eyes start to blur, I feel slightly lost, my
head spins and my interest wanes. Computer monitors
really aren’t the best medium for reading.
The Net and many sites are so big that it’s
important to always provide a clear frame of reference
for your visitors at all times while they’re
on your site. If a page requires two full screens
of scrolling or more, simply split it up into multiple
pages.
3.
Long, text-heavy and blocky paragraphs of unbroken
text
I really have to be into a topic or desperately
need to glean the information to trudge through
big chunks of unbroken text online. If I’m
just shopping around for a product or service, you’ve
lost me if I have to endure this kind of torture.
Again, it is harder to read text on the Web than
in other mediums such as books. Additionally, Web
users are notoriously impatient, so make your content
easy to read and non-intimidating. Use titles, sub-titles,
small paragraphs, bullets and numbering.
4.
No obvious ways to contact the company
If all you supply is an email on your website, your
legitimacy may be questioned. Why can’t you
answer the phone? Why hide behind an anonymous and
cold email address? Make it easy for your existing
and potential customers to talk with you.
5.
Unchanging or out-date content
If I start reading content on a site and soon discover
that the content was written three years ago, I
split. Since there’s so much information out
there, my reasoning is there’s got to be comparable
information online that’s more current. If
you keep your content fresh your site will attract
repeat visitors. And repeat visitors are more likely
to turn into customers.
6.
Long page downloads
It’s amazing that this is still a problem.
When I click on to a site and have to sit there
waiting for it to appear in my browser, I start
sweating, picking my teeth, tapping my toes, rolling
my eyes and soon want to throw my computer through
my office window. I’m obviously a little impatient,
but again, I know there are other sites out there
with the same information that will download more
quickly, so why wait? I’m gone.
7.
“Me, me, me!” instead of “You,
you, you”
Generally speaking, no one cares about you, your
company or your thoughts. What they do care about
is what you can do for them. So sites that show
pictures of the company building or tout their deep
philosophy on the way business should be conducted
really don’t bode well for keeping the interest
of site visitors. On the other hand, sites that
speak directly to potential customers about how
they can solve their problems, make their lives
easier, safer, richer or more comfortable have a
much better chance of keeping the eyeballs glued.
8. Non-explanatory buttons or links
Here are some examples of buttons that leave me
dazed and confused: A wedding site with a button
called ‘Blanks’, a boating site with
a button named ‘The Lighthouse’, a book
site with a button called ‘The Inside Story’,
or a Web design site with a button called ‘Tea
Time’. They sound like Jeopardy categories.
Imagine trying to find your way on a highway where
its various signs read ‘Over Here’,
‘Moon Beams’, and ‘Lollypops’.
Good luck navigating your way through. It’s
the same with navigating websites. Button and link
names need to tell the visitor where the link leads
to. Make it as easy as possible for a visitor to
know where they’re going before they click.
However, there are times when naming a link an ambiguous
name may pique the curiosity of a user and get them
to click on it. But as a general rule, keep your
links and buttons as descriptive as possible.
9.
Inconsistent navigation
Imagine sitting down at a restaurant and the waiter
comes over to you and hands you five different menus,
one for the appetizers, one for the soups and salads,
one for the entrees, one for the desserts, and one
for the drinks. Annoying. Now imagine if each menu
had a different format, layout and method for listing
the items. Brutal. I really don’t want to
work that hard at picking out my dinner, I’m
hungry and I just want a meal. Don’t make
your visitors work hard either by expecting them
to re-learn your navigation system each time they
enter another section of your site. They too are
hungry; for useful information and they’re
even more impatient.
10.
Inconsistent look & feel
When the look & feel completely changes from
one page to another in a website, I think I am visiting
another site, another company, a partner or subsidiary.
I get very confused. This screams poor planning
and often results from tacking on new sections later
after the original site was built. This can lead
to design-drift. It may be tempting to stray from
the original design; you may have a better design
now. But wait till you do a complete next-generation
re-design of the entire site before introducing
a new look & feel. If not, lots of visitors
will be scratching their heads with one hand and
possibly clicking away with the other.
