RESOLVE TO CORRECT THESE FOUR WEB SITE FLAWS IN 2006

It’s four whole days into 2006 and most of us still have a few New Year’s resolutions we haven’t broken yet. One resolution you should make – and keep – is to review your web site and fix these four web site flaws.

1. Bad layout formatting.

I saw a web site the other day that used graphic navigation images scattered over the page. OK, how to get back to the home page? Where’s the “home” graphic? Oh, there it is! Not many customers are going to hang around that long.

Good page layout can be accomplished simply. People expect the navigation to be under the heading or down the left column. Break up long text paragraphs into short ones. Use bold headings and bullet lists when appropriate. Avoid the use of distracting, animated graphics.

Content is king. Avoid too many graphics on your page that get in the way of your content or distract the viewer. Use colors to attract viewers to the important parts of your page.

2. No content or outdated content.

Review all your content. Is it still relevant? Does it reflect they way you currently do business? Are there typos? Does it describe the benefits of your product or service to your customer? Is the content rich with appropriate and clear keywords?

But the worst offense is to have no content at all! I saw a site the other day in which the entire home page was made up of graphic images, even the text content! Search engines cannot read text in graphic images. No wonder that site didn’t rank well.

3. Flawed navigation and orphan pages.

You should be able to navigate to any page from any other page in your site. Yet, we see a lot of sites that have broken links (the links don’t go anywhere). Be especially careful with links to pages on other sites, as their URL may have changed, or the page may have been removed. If you do nothing else – and I intend to take my own advice here – check every nav button and link on every page of your site.

Check for “orphaned” pages – pages that you can get TO but can’t go back to the home page without hitting the Back button numerous times.

4. The (ab)use of technology.

Some web designers feel that an over-the-top display of technological prowess makes for a better web site. The truth is, it often makes for a worse site. Here, in my opinion, are the worst offenders.

Splash Pages are pages that have little or no content, but lots of flashy graphics to “introduce” a web site. A potential customer may have visited a lot of sites prior to finding yours. So, do you really want them to endure a splash page before getting into your content?

Flash Graphics are very popular now to add movement and dynamism to a site. Used with restraint, flash can be attractive. But avoid having your visitor wait while your flash loads then wait some more while your fantastic animated display unfolds before them. Be aware that many people are still using dial-up connections, and web surfers are notoriously impatient.

But the biggest problem with splash pages and flash graphics is that they are search engine un-friendly. There is no content in them that search engines can find to rank your site. So your site will probably rank lower than your competitor’s less elaborate site, all else being equal.

Frames was a popular web development technique several years ago, and there are a lot of frame sites still out there. But it is now falling into disfavor. In fact, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the body responsible for establishing and maintaining web standards, has “depreciated” frames. That means that they are going away, and at some point in the future, popular browsers may not support frames.

The W3C depreciated frames for good reasons. Search engines have difficulty finding content in frame sites.

How do you know if your site was developed using frames? The best way is to pull up your home page, click the View menu, then click Source. If you see only one or two dozen lines of code and the words “frame” or “frameset,” your site uses frames.

Frames are not going away tomorrow, but if your site uses frames, it would be wise to consider having your site revised using simpler, W3C compliant, technology. Web Design Partners stands ready to assist you in keeping your web site resolutions for 2006!