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.
