Ecommerce Tips Update: Bad Web Design And Mistakes

Okay, we know we all need to pay the bills. I know that many of
us want to get traffic to our web sites. And some of us just
want to make enough money to pay for our costs so that this
thing we love to do is free.

But, come on, that doesn't mean you should plaster a hundred
ads or a dozen banners on every page of your web site. A banner
here and there, a small button or a few text links is fine, but
I've seen some web sites that have dozens and a few that have
hundreds of ads on each page! Now this is just tacky and is
virtually guaranteed to get your visitors to hit that handy
back button fast.

One of the worst kinds of web sites, in my opinion, are those
that are just huge advertisements. Especially those that are
advertisements for dozens or even hundreds of other services.
People do not surf the web looking for banners, text links and
other advertisements to click on. In fact, statistically, most
people are surfing because they are looking for (a)
information, (b) entertainment, or (c) someone to talk to. Most
web surfers are not looking for something to purchase.

A good web site offers excellent content (which can be
graphics, text or interactive features). Even those sites which
sell something also offer content which is of interest to their
visitors. Go take a look at any really good shopping site and
you will see what I mean. Look at Amazon or Barnes And Noble
and you will understand - these sites offer tons of content.
Reviews of their products, consumer comments and large amounts
of data about the items being sold. This is what people want -
information. Some common things on web site that you should
never do.

Notices saying "please, pretty please, keep my site free and
click on something". This just makes you look like a rank
amateur. In my humble opinion, it's very tacky to expect people
to click on links just so you can "keep your site free". Come up
with or find a good product or service, and sell it if you must.
Advertising is not in of itself of value only products or
services have value.

Web sites that are just advertisements - I suppose there is a
place for brochures or full site advertisements, but I
personally hit the back key as soon as I run into one of these.
I want content. If I wanted this many advertisements I'd buy a
magazine or look in the classified section of the newspaper.

Any large graphic advertisements. Remember one of the very
important things in web design is load time. Your site must
load fast. If you include large graphic ads you are increase
your load times.

Popup Windows - If you do a survey of web surfers, you will
find that these are among the most hated "features" that exist.
No one likes pop up windows, and if your site has too many of
them you will loose visitors fast. Oh, you may get a few more
clicks or signups for your newsletter, but the amount of time
your visitors remain on your site will be limited and of less
quality.

About The Author: Emmanuel & Lloyd Scott are specialists in
Information Technology and have an online business for web
templates and design http://www.prepagebuilder.com COPYRIGHT
2006 ©Lloyd & Emmanuel D. Scott support@scottsempire.com