Article printed from SiteProNews: http://www.sitepronews.com
  HTML version available at: http://www.sitepronews.com/archives.html

Professional Website Do's and Don'ts.   
By Wynn Wilder
 
Do's and Don'ts of a Professional Website

A professional website is, above all else, professional. What 
constitutes professional though? This question has been asked 
by many, and the answers are as varied as those asking the 
question. There are at least a hundred or more possible aspects 
to consider, some consisting of parts of others, such as 
demographics and content. Each factor has its own affect on 
how customers perceive a website. 

Being professional is an attitude portrayed by you, the business 
owner, your business and your website. You don't have the luxury 
of smiling real big, wearing your best suit, and shaking hands 
with the customer. Your site has to do that for you. This brief 
list of what to do and what not to do when creating a 
professional website is only the beginning, one small step 
towards success.

DO'S

1. Know Your Visitors. 
Your site should be designed to fit their needs and wants. If 
you're selling, know the demographics of the people you're 
selling to. If you're just providing information, know who you 
are targeting. Rule of thumb: Know more about your audience than 
they know about you.
 
2. Know Your Product. 
As strange as that may sound, people know when a site offers 
products or services that they themselves know little about. 
If you are letting someone else write the content for your 
site and that someone doesn't know the product, then your 
customers won't know it either. Anticipate questions from 
customers and answer them before they are asked. 

3. Make Your Site Visually Pleasing. 
Just because bright red and bright blue are your favorite 
colors doesn't mean that they should be the dominant colors on 
your site. Red and blue are at different ends of the spectrum 
and will give viewers a headache if viewed too long. You want 
to make viewers feel welcome, comfortable, and that they are 
able to trust you. 

4. Outline the Concept of the Site Before It is Created. 
Know the answers to those golden questions: who, what, when, 
where, why and how. While these questions apply to your 
demographics they are also helpful in deciding what information 
is truly important and what isn't. Pinning down your tacit 
knowledge is often a challenge, and not all tacit knowledge is 
valuable. What do you want the customers to know and what do 
the customers want to know? 

5. Make Your Prices Readily Available. 
Hide your prices and customers will wonder what else you are 
hiding. Don't wait until after you ask for their credit card 
information to tell them how much it costs. You don't make sales 
that way; what you do make is frustrated customers who tell other 
potential customers to stay away from your site. 

6. Keep Your Site Credible. 
Back up what you say with statistics or links to articles 
that support your claim. If you have experts in your company, 
highlight them. Show the customer that there are REAL people 
running the business. Update the content as often as possible 
- if updating the content isn't possible, add links to news 
articles and update those links. It is time consuming, but in 
the end it is worth the time and effort.

7. Ask for Input from People Who Know Nothing About Your 
   Product/Service/Business. 
This is the best way to get true feedback. People who know 
nothing about what you are doing can find the smallest error 
and ask the best questions. They can give you a fresh perspective 
on your site and sometimes your business. They don't know what 
you know, and they often see what you don't. 

8. Use Images that Portray Confidence. 
You want the customer to trust you right? Then show them that 
you believe enough in yourself and your product that there is 
no doubt that you are trustworthy. Dress for success. You 
wouldn't wear snow boots on a hot summer's day, would you? Then 
don't let your site wear images that could make you look cheap 
and untrustworthy.

9. Keep Your Site Translator-Friendly. 
This can sometimes be challenging as we tend to use different 
terminology than other countries. What we would consider 'normal 
phrasing' may be considered 'odd' or offensive to someone else. 
Avoid slang and check your site with a translator. Check to see 
which words are translated and which ones aren't, then try to 
figure out why.

10. Be Consistent Throughout the Site. 
Making each page of your site different can be entertaining to 
teenagers and new internet users, but most of your potential 
customers aren't new to the internet. If a viewer feels as 
though they're on a different site each time they click a link 
on your site, they are likely to go to another site. Consistency 
counts in site design and professionalism, and your customers 
will expect it. 

DON'TS

1. Don't Guess at Who You're Trying to Reach With Your Site. 
'Guesstimation' is for horse shoes and card games. If you don't 
know your demographics, then you might as well have thrown your 
site together.

2. Don't Get Too Technical. 
Your customers are the ones reading your site, so it should be 
written for them. Sure, your competition might read your site 
as well, but they already know the business jargon. Besides, 
you aren't trying to sell to them anyway. Remember, other 
business owners may browse, but your customers are your 
buyers. 

3. Don't Give Your Customers A Headache. 
There are 256 colors available for site design. 216 of those 
are browser 'safe.' Just because there are an abundance of 
colors does not mean that they all should be used at once. 
Warm colors shouldn't be used with cool colors because of the 
conflicting hues. Meanwhile, bright colors make the eyes work 
harder to focus and after a few minutes will likely give your 
viewers a headache.

4. Don't Keep Content That Isn't Being Read. 
Keeping track of what your customers are actually reading is 
very helpful. You want a customer to peruse your site as 
completely as possible. The more they know, the better your 
chances are that they will purchase or sign-up. If a page isn't 
being read then try something else. Rewrite it. Add psychological 
triggers. Rephrase. Find a way to make the page valuable. 

5. Don't Repeat the Same Information on Every Page. 
The viewer doesn't want to read the same material over and over. 
Give them new, fresh information on each page. If they want to 
go back and read the previous page, give them that option. 

6. Don't Hide Contact Information. 
You'll find conflicting information on this topic. Some 
designers will tell you to put your contact information on every 
page, but customers tend to find that redundant. One page with 
multiple ways to contact you is more effective even if the 
customer never visits the page. Just having the page there tells 
them that you can be reached and that you really are there for 
their convenience. 

7. Don't Use Animations. 
Some would say use animations to draw attention to your ad, 
product, 'new' idea/newsletter/etc. but by following that 
suggestion you frustrate the customer. Flashing, moving objects 
distract the eyes. A customer is there looking for information, 
if their eyes are distracted while reading, their comprehension 
decreases while their frustration rises. The use of colors such 
as yellow and orange become helpful in this area. Bolding or 
italicizing words is another way to emphasize phrases, or items 
you want the customer to notice.

8. Don't Use Multiple Fonts. 
It only takes the eye seconds to adjust to a new font, but 
those seconds are distracting to the mind. Different sizes, 
styles, and colors are confusing. Choose one font and stick 
with it. Consistency is more important than creativity when 
it comes to text. 

9. Don't Take Control Away From the Viewer. 
Creative cursors, full screen browsers, and other 'entertaining' 
aspects of site design are great, if your target audience is 
teenagers or new internet users, but for a professional website 
they give the appearance of being cheap, second rate, and 
amateurish.

10. Don't 'Bunch Up' the Text. 
Add spaces between paragraphs so customers don't feel 
overwhelmed with information. Placing a small picture 
pertaining to the content gives the eyes time to relax before 
reading further. 

================================================================ 
Wynn Wilder is a Website Psychologist and owner of Critical 
Thinking (http://www.thinkingcritically.net}.
================================================================

Copyright © 2004 Jayde Online, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.

SiteProNews is a registered service mark of Jayde Online, Inc.