Web Development Pitfalls To Avoid
With hundreds of thousands of professionally designed websites on the Internet it
is important to make sure that youre site stands out for the right reasons - sometimes its shocking to see the poor quality of some websites (and some of these are designed by professionals too!). Dont despair, there are a couple of things that you can watch out for to ensure that your site doesnt wind up as an example of what not to do.
Flash introduction pages
Flash introductions can look nice and attractive since they include animated and interactive elements but, aesthetics aside, many users find them frustrating. Users dont like to wait for an intro page to load in order to reach the content so if you are going to include such a page on your website, make sure there is a skip intro button as well as a loading bar to show visitors how long they will have to wait.
The loading time of such a page depends on what is included on it. For example music and images increase the loading time significantly. Remember, in the online sphere no-one has time to wait. If your website cant provide them with the information they need, fast, they will click back and find it somewhere else. In terms of SEO a pure flash page is a big no-no because many search engines cannot read flash files easily. For this reason, if you decide to make use of a flash intro, make sure your underlying content is indexable and includes meta tags with title tags and relevant keywords.
A ghastly colour palette
Probably the first thing a visitor to your site will notice is its colour palette. This is why the colours you chose for your sites template play a vital role in the success of your website. Colours have a significant psychological impact on visitors and it is important to keep in mind the different meanings associated with different colours. For example, white is associated with innocence and purity whereas red is associated with passion and danger. Your colour choices should be based on factors like the market you are targeting, your brands positioning and the type of services or products you are promoting. Keep in mind that too many colours might be distracting. Its a good idea to use colour to highlight important elements on your pages like headings and links. Be consistent!
Bad layout and navigation
Your visitors need to know exactly where they are on your website at all times and what you want them to do, therefore it is important to include clear and consistent calls to action. The websites layout should be logical and at first glance define what the website is about. Also, make use of links within your websites text to lead visitors deeper into your website. Remember, if you offer high quality content visitors will want to come back to your website.
Make use of web-safe fonts
Not all fonts render the same on different computers. Web-safe fonts are those fonts that are commonly installed on all computers by computer manufacturers. The overall look and feel of a website influences your visitors first impressions, and the font you decide to use is an important part of establishing the look of a website. Ideally, the font used should be attractive and easy to read. To help you choose a font, use the Font Tester.
Make sure your website is compatible with all browsers
You want visitors to see the website as youre seeing it. Since each website browser and operating system interprets code in a different way, it is important to ensure that your website renders properly in all browsers. Brower Shots is a handy tool that allows you to preview your website in various browsers.
Make use of a sitemaps
A sitemap classifies website information and graphically illustrates the structure of the website. Not only does a sitemap help human visitors to find information easily but an XML sitemap is a communication tool used to show search engines all the pages on your site.
An XML sitemap allows search engines easy access to all of your sites content and also notifies them quickly when your site is updated. You should create one using the correct protocol and upload it to the root directory (yoursite.com/sitemap.xml). Once youve done this, submit the sitemap to Google to ensure that the search engines spiders visit your website and index those pages.
Meta tags
In September 2009 Google announced that their search engine no longer makes use of the keyword meta-tag to rank websites. Yet, this does not mean that meta-tags should be ignored since other search engines still use them.
Search engines use the content in your websites meta-description tag on their results pages as the snippet describing your page. Its therefore important to optimise the meta-description by making the content enticing and descriptive of the page to ensure higher click-through rates.
Title tags are one of the most important elements on a page. They play an important role in SEO and for click-throughs from SERPs. The title tag is used on the search engine result pages as the clickable link, and these need to be descriptive and concisely describe the content of the webpage. Titles should contain the pages most important keywords.
by: FormFunction
Review: How to Write Your Own Money-Making Websites by Nick Usborne (for American Writers & Artists Inc) 2010 Resolution Webinar at 9PM EST Tonight Canada Flex Website Design Using Web Analytics – Why is it important? Inexpensive Web Design Review Website Success – Top 5 Steps Servicios Turísticos Digitales: Buscar Hoteles En Internet PSP Go Download Center – Is This Website Legitimate? PSP Go Download Center – Is This Website A Scam? A Step By Step Guide To Build Your Own Website -- Establish Your Online Presence Within Minutes Searching The Internet The Right Way Internet Money Making Idea – Find Your Buisness Idea 6 Dynamite Reasons To Blow Away The Competition With Guitar Lessons On The Internet