When it comes to becoming an expert, there are many hurdles to overcome before you get there. That said, learning from your mentors allows you to avoid the mistakes they have made throughout their careers. This article was written to show you many common errors made by those in the know and how to avoid them, so read on.
Launch pages are so 1998. If you check the statistics on sites which use these pages today, and there are thankfully very few, most people click the “Skip” button.
There is no reason to have a launch page on your site – people want to find the content, not a flashy animation or video. The less steps it takes to get to the good stuff, the more likely it is that your website will retain visitors.
Background music is also so 1998. No one wants to listen to music which is forced upon them unless the website is for a band. Playing a music file eats up your bandwidth, causes the page to load slower and annoys users who can’t turn off their speakers. If you aren’t Metallica, you don’t need music in the background, so skip it and instead spend your time focusing on creating intelligent content.
Pop-up ads became irrelevant a decade ago. Why? Most browsers don’t even allow pop-up windows anymore! If they do, users install pop-up blockers so they don’t see those windows at all. What does that mean?
Your pop-up window will never appear, so why bother creating one? Instead, keep your content on the page itself, even creating automatic pop-up text within the page itself. That will get through to the user and allow you to get your message across.
Flash was neat and can be used in fun ways, but isn’t useful on a typical website, especially on the front page. Moving text is all well and good, but only stands to make your website look flashy and potentially untrustworthy.
Unless you can use Flash for something necessary, such as providing an interactive video or game, there is no point in using it at all. Any feature which actually irritates those who visit your website is a no-no.
A confusing website will never be popular. It has to be clear what your website stands to offer within a few seconds of landing on any page. That means you have to grab the attention of the viewer and cause them to continue reading.
Provide the information they need at the top of the page, such as the name of your site or company and what you do. Under that, provide links to all of the sections of your site, including off-site content like social media pages or YouTube videos.
As long as you understand the mistakes you can make, you are better prepared to find success instead. These tips will help guide you through the process of creating a website the right way the first time. Use them as you continue designing sites and finding great success.
