Why a website matters! (and mistakes to avoid)

[is300 0]

Greetings everyone. I am a new member of this forum as of this post. I have been lurking for a while and have enjoyed the collaborative enviornment.

 

EDIT: THIS IS IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM A SOLICITATION, JUST INFORMATION

 

I wanted to take a moment to talk about websites and how important they can be. At the same time I'd like to cover some common mistakes made that can make your website far less effective (maybe even detrimental!). I used to (and still occasionally) do freelance web development so I am extra sensitive to web sites and how they are designed and organized.

 

First off, today more than ever, a web site might very often be your FIRST *REAL* IMPRESSION to an initial lead. Most people, if given the choice between a 24hr recorded message and a URL, will gladly choose the WEBSITE as an initial source of information. As computers and high-speed internet continue to become ubiquitous, this phenomenon will only gain momentum. A website can also provide much more information than a recorded message.

 

Your web site is a visual representation of you, your company, your products, your services, your support, your expertise, etc. Get the picture? I don't care how good you are, if your website looks like a 4th grader made it with FrontPage, I immediately discount your credibility. I'd rather continue looking for someone to work with.

 

Sound superficial? That's because it is! It's the same reason a house with great curb appeal will get more calls than one without. It's how we as humans often reason. Knowing that can give you a leg up when dealing with your competition.

 

Now, if you are well versed in web technologies AND have a good eye AND have time, you may very well be able to design your own site. If you are missing any ONE of the three, OUTSOURCE it. It may cost more up front but the benefits will be worth it. Many a people think all they need is FrontPage or some other WYSIWYG editor to put their business on the web. Well, they're correct from a literal standpoint but I'd argue that that approach can do more harm than good.

 

So, what does all of this mean to you and your website?

 

1) THINK ABOUT YOUR SITE LONG AND HARD BEFORE STARTING DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

 

You'd be surprised how many people don't do this. They just start going and hope everything falls into place. Taking just an hour with a legal pad and pencil can save time and money. Map out your business. Decide what you want to say and how you want to say it. Look at other websites and write down what you like and don't like. What will the layout look like? etc. Take the time up front to make sure you have a clear picture of what you want at the end.

 

2) MATCH YOUR WEBSITE TO ANY PRE-EXISTING MATERIALS YOU USE

 

Do you have a letterhead? Business card? Stationary? Flyers? You are going for a corporate image. This is branding folks and the key is consistency. Establish your brand and stick to it in every part of your business. Some people have business cards that don't match letterheads that don't match websites etc. What a mess!

 

3) MAKE IT PROFESSIONAL

 

Sounds simple right? Spend 15 minutes looking at different websites and you'll quickly realize it's not. Here are some things to avoid:

 

- Bright, obnoxious colors and backgrounds

- Backgrounds filled with images and clipart

- Scrolling/marquee text - I HATE THIS!

- Animated GIFs and other images

- Poorly designed frames

 

Those are like the third rail of web design - touch them and die. Please do us all a favor and don't use them!

 

4) USE NEUTRAL COLORS

 

Some of you may have business cards that are bright red and yellow. Some might have polka dots. I'd strongly encourage you to not make your website using a fire engine red background with yellow text. I know I know, what about point number 2 and matching everything to create a consistent corporate identity?

Be creative! Just because your logo is bright red and green doesn't mean your website has to be this obnoxious. Get with a graphic designer and have them pick out a color palette that compliments the colors in your logo. Neutral color backgrounds are MUCH more soothing on the eyes and also look more professional than louder colors. Also, black text on a light background is much easier to read than white text on a dark background. If you really want to get into it, certain colors evoke certain emotions and can be used as a psychological tool to reach potential leads.

 

5) K.I.S.S

 

KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID! Don't make people think! Site navigation can usually be found on the left margin and sometimes on a navigation bar at the top of the page. Don't put your navigation on the right side! Make your website as easy as possible to navigate. Underline links or do SOMETHING to denote them as links. JavaScript rollovers are great if done SUBTLY. If your website is confusing, people might leave. Your goal is to keep them there for as long as possible and KEEP THEM COMING BACK.

 

6) DESIGN FOR THE MAJORITY

 

A lot of people still use a monitor resolution of 800x600. Don't make your website 1200px wide just because you have a sweet 21" monitor set at 1600x1200. There is nothing worse than having to scroll all over the place to read a paragraph. Another alternative is to make your page dynamically resize using tables that are created with relative parameters. Even here, make sure that the web page is still viewable at 800x600. At higher resolutions, the content can expand to fill the page, thus reducing some dead space.

 

7) NO POP-UPS

 

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!! Don't use them - period.

 

8) NO ADVERTISEMENTS

 

Third party advertisements are tacky and unprofessional. Here's my thought process: "He's trying to scrape advertising revenue from clicks. . . his RE business must not be doing so hot."

 

9) MAKE YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS MATCH YOUR DOMAIN

 

This one isn't so much specific to the web site as it is to your entire web presence. I see people with great domains and their website is xxxxxx@yahoo.com or aol.com or hotmail.com etc. That's a shame. If you're paying for the domain, use it to its full extent. Your e-mail address also conveys a degree of professionalism. Make it match. It will also serve as more branding for your company name every time someone punches it in to the To: box to send you an e-mail.

 

10) AVOID FREE HOSTING PROVIDERS

 

If it's too good to be true, it probably is. There are plenty of quality hosting companies that will host your site for $10/month tops. If traffic is modest, you don't need a dedicated server. These hosts guarantee 99.9% uptime and the bandwidth is good which means your site loads quick. They also offer better customer support and more features. Free hosts also sometimes cover costs through advertising - see # 8

 

11) SPREAD OUT YOUR CONTENT

 

If you have a 15 page article to post or you have a lot to say about your company, don't put it all on one page. It's intimidating to see your scroll bar get real tiny. You know what you're in for before you even begin reading. Split it up into digestable chunks that are easy to read. The chances of your audience making it to the end are far greater.

 

12) AVOID TYPOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

PROOF PROOF PROOF!! Too many websites look great but the text is laden with mistakes. Proof read all of your text. Read it out loud. Have friends read it. Make sure it is error free. Don't use 'an' when you're supposed to use 'a', don't use their when you really mean there, etc. Simple english principles need to be upheld on the web to maintain professionalism. If you don't know the english language that well, have someone who does proof your website. Pay a college kid $50 to read the whole thing. A typo can turn people off.

 

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WHEW - Ok so those are 12 things I thought of off the top of my head. I am sure there are more and I'm happy to update this as they come to my mind. In conclusion, don't underestimate the importance of a website. Even if it's one page explaining what you do, at least it's a presence and a source of information for people who are too bashful to pick up the phone. A lot of the tips above should be obvious to a professional developer but make sure they don't get overlooked. Talk to several developers and find one that you work well with. Look at their portfolio and see what you think. Web developers are a dime a dozen these days. Make sure and get what you want.

 

And of course, I should say that all the above are opinions of one man only. Rules were made to be broken, but only for good reason.

 

If anyone doesn't understand some of what was said, feel free to post and I'll do my best to answer the questions. Also, feel free to post your website for a friendly, CONSTRUCTIVE critique. Don't be bashful! :ph34r:

 

 

 

All the best,

 

John

[MichaelC 160]

Hello, John, and welcome to The Naked Investor. Thank you for that indepth tutorial on website design and development. Very informative, indeed.

Among the points that caught my attention, was number 6. Does it still hold true that the majority of the folks are still using a resolution of 800x600? I find this hard to imagine these days. I was under the impression that the base level resolution for most people these days was 1024x768.

[is300 0]

Hello, John, and welcome to The Naked Investor.  Thank you for that indepth tutorial on website design and development.  Very informative, indeed.

Among the points that caught my attention, was number 6.  Does it still hold true that the majority of the folks are still using a resolution of 800x600?  I find this hard to imagine these days.  I was under the impression that the base level resolution for most people these days was 1024x768.

You'd be surprised, especially with older folks. People who use AOL are also a problem because there's so much clutter that it makes it difficult.

 

I just don't think it's worth the risk personally. Ideally you could make a smaller version for 800x600 resolutions and then have your other site geared for 1024x768. Some simple JavaScript could detect the user's settings and load the respective page.

 

Check out www.cnet.com - they just redesigned their site and it's for 1024x768 or greater resolution. One of the biggest pieces of feedback they receive is that it needs to go back to 800x600.

 

I personally don't see how anyone can stand anything less than 1024x768. If I'm not at 1280x1024 or greater I go nuts

[MichaelC 160]

I'm looking at a new 19" LCD monitor, set at 1280x1024. Previously, I was using a 19" CRT, set at 1024x768. The higher resolution is certainly noticeable. If I set the monitor at 800x600 it takes on a Teletubbies look.

One thing I have noticed, though, is that this site appears different with the higher resolution. I have a vertical grey bar about three inches in from the right border. This wasn't there at 1024x768, or lower. Is this due to that dynamic resizing you mentioned earlier?

And the CNET site looks fine to me, by the way. Except for the garish colors! Need to read the articles.

[is300 0]

One thing I have noticed, though, is that this site appears different with the higher resolution.  I have a vertical grey bar about three inches in from the right border.  This wasn't there at 1024x768, or lower.  Is this due to that dynamic resizing you mentioned earlier?

Click this link: http://www.naked-investor.com/images/bg.gif

 

That vertical bar is really your background image repeating itself. Looks awful familiar to the grey bar on the very left side doesn't it

 

That image is wide enough to not repeat at 1024x768 and lower which is why you never saw the grey bar. Now that you're up to higher resolutions, it's not wide enough to fit the bill. An easy solution would be to add some more of that grid gradient to the right side so it won't repeat on higher resolution screens.

 

I'm looking at a new 19" LCD monitor, set at 1280x1024.

I need to start making some money in REI so I can buy an LCD

[Mr.B 0]

I need to start making some money in REI so I can buy an LCD 

Honestly, when I first read this post I half expected to get to the end and see:

 

If you want a really professional looking website at an affordable price email me at: hungry@webdesigners.com

 

hehe

 

Informative post though. I had dabbled in web design using Dreamweaver so I get a lot of what your saying. Especially about Monitor resolution very aggravating.

 

Good Luck with REI maybe once your successful you can do what you love and not worry wether its paying the bills or not.

 

~Mr.B

[is300 0]

I need to start making some money in REI so I can buy an LCD 

Honestly, when I first read this post I half expected to get to the end and see:

 

If you want a really professional looking website at an affordable price email me at: hungry@webdesigners.com

 

hehe

 

Informative post though. I had dabbled in web design using Dreamweaver so I get a lot of what your saying. Especially about Monitor resolution very aggravating.

 

Good Luck with REI maybe once your successful you can do what you love and not worry wether its paying the bills or not.

 

~Mr.B

Thanks Mr. B - I am going to edit my post to say in the beginning that this is in NO way a solicitation of my services!

 

I actually don't love web development. I really love real estate but I'm just getting started. Now photography is a different story - maybe some day I can really have time to do that...

 

Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed the post. I just see so many people with crappy websites that I felt obligated to say something and try to help everyone out

[Doug Pretorius (ON) 9]

Now photography is a different story - maybe some day I can really have time to do that...

You can take pictures of the houses you're selling