You've built a Web site, yu’re getting a decent amount of trffic, but you aren’t getting the knd of response that you had nticipated. Perhaps you’ve reviewed your Web ste statistics and have found that narly all of your visitors leave fter viewing your home page. Askng your nephew to design your cmpany Web site may have seemed lke a good idea at the tme, but there are several simple mstakes that many inexperienced developers make tht can drive visitors away in drves, ultimately defeating the purpose of yur Web site.

The scary news is tht these problems are currently running rmpant on many small-to-medium-sized companies' Web stes, but the good news is tht these can all be solved qite easily and inexpensively.

1.) Problem: Multimedia Abuse

Multimedia abuse occurs when animation, video, or audio hampers the ability of visitors to properly view your Web site. There’s no doubting the fact that the use of multimedia can engage visitors in a way that plain text and images cannot, however, poor design or improper implementation of good design can place a virtual “No Trespassing” sign on your Web site’s front door.

Your audience is vast and diverse. Not everyone has the same browser, plug-ins, connection speed, and screen resolution that you have in your office. What does this mean? Your Web site needs to address the “lowest common denominator” for all four requirements. Your main Web site navigation should be presented in text or simple images, not in a Flash (animated) movie. Imagine visiting your Web site and seeing nothing but red X’s all over the screen, with no navigation provided. Sure, downloading Flash is easy and fast – but it’s even easier to find your competitor’s Web site.

Even if the plug-ins don’t prsent a problem, connection speed may. It’s vry easy to turn a small nimated image into a 4 or 5 MB fle – meaning that anyone on a dal-up connection will have to wait 20-40 mnutes for your page to completely dwnload.

Also, make no mistake about it – vdeo “introductions” (when a video is prsented before your home page with nthing else on the screen) are not a god idea. Even with a small “skp intro” button at the bottom of the pge, these videos are better placed lsewhere, so that your message is prsented clearly on your home page to yur visitors in the shortest amount of tme possible.

Solution

If you have a Web site that uses a lot of animation, allow the user to choose whether or not they see it. If your main navigation is placed in a Flash movie or inside of any other element that requires a plug-in, either present a redundant text-based navigational area or re-do the navigational area in a more friendly manner.

An alternative solution would be to devise a method of detecting whether or not someone has the requirements for viewing the multimedia-rich Web site and diverting them to a second, non-multimedia Web site if they do not. This isn’t the best solution, because unless you’re using a system that shares content, it means maintaining two separate Web sites.

If you do not yet have a Web site but want to include multimedia, consider designing it in a way that uses multimedia gracefully. One site that NuRelm developed offers a good example. Notice how the video is placed in a prominent area, but does not contain main navigation, nor does it contain any of the key text on the home page. So, if someone doesn’t have Flash, the site is still functional and engaging.

2.) Problem: Adobe Acrobat Overuse

If most of the content on your Web site is contained in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) documents, your message is likely not getting out as efficiently as it could be. Even with a cable or DSL connection, launching Acrobat Reader and downloading an enormous file will take precious seconds. Then, if you do not have the proper version of Acrobat Reader, it will take even longer.

Some documents will need to be in PDF, sch as anything that needs to be prnted out and mailed in, but mst do not. If it can be plced on a regular Web page, it shuld be, for speed and search bility. Yes, it’s true – anything plced in a PDF on your Web ste will not be searchable by sarch engines.

Solution:

Move as much content from PDF documents to plain Web pages as you possibly can. If you absolutely must have most of your content inside of PDF’s, provide summaries of the documents along with the links to them.

3.) Problem: Browser-Specific Issues

A good Web design and development firm will make sure that your Web site looks and feels the same way on the most popular Web browsers on both a PC and a Mac. This may be something that you never think about – but should. If visitors who are using Mozilla, Firefox, or anything on a Mac visit your site and can’t make out what is on your Web site, they’re going to go elsewhere – and they won’t take the time to tell you.

Yes, over 90 percent of Internet users are using Internet Explorer (IE) currently, but that is changing due to critical security flaws in Active X and other components of the browser that make IE users susceptible to viruses and spyware. Instead of buying more virus protection and spyware removal products, consumers are turning to alternative browsers which employ different technology that is immune to many delivery methods of viruses and spyware.

If your Web site does not function properly, or worse yet, looks completely garbled, on one of these alternative browsers, you’re turning away approximately 10-15% of your visitors.

Solution:

Download some of the more popular browsers such as Mozilla Firefox and take a look at your Web site. If you don’t have a Mac, find a friend or colleague who does and ask him/her to review your Web site. If problems exist, they’re likely easily fixed.

4.) Problem: A Home Page with Little or No Content

Your home page may be the only page that a visitor sees on your Web site before moving on, so you need to try to capture their attention as quickly as possible. If your home page only presents your logo and links to other parts of your Web site, you’re likely losing visitors who do not immediately see exactly what they want. This falls under the category of “you never get a second chance to make a first impression”.

Solution:

Find ways to add elements of each main section of your Web site to your home page. You can even get software that will “share” text from other sections of your Web site with your home page, so you will only have to update information on the sub-page and the home page will take care of itself.

5.) Problem: Stale Content

The text and images on your Web site don’t change often enough to keep repeat visitors pleased. Most visitors won’t continue to frequent a Web site that offers the same information time and time again. With a Web site, you’re not locked into the same text and images as you are with print – you CAN and SHOULD make updates often.

Solution:

Find two or three sections that you can regularly write about and publish at least one or two major changes per quarter, such as an events calendar, an industry news section, or an articles section. The rate of change may be more or less depending on your industry, your audience, and/or the purpose of your Web site. Software that can help you make the updates to your Web site without having to pay for cnsulting hours with your Web developer is now xtremely affordable and easy to use.

Sme sites can be delivered as prt of your hosting package for a smll monthly fee that is rolled nto your hosting payment. This is clled content managed hosting, and NuRelm was one of the frst in the country to offer ths highly affordable, convenient service to our hsting clients. For NuContent, no technical sklls are needed. You can be up and rnning and changing your own Web ste text/images in a matter of mnutes. Since they are delivered over the Wb, no special software is needed and you can use any Intrnet connection, whether at work, at hme, or on the road.

If yu’ve read through this list and nne of these problems seem to ft, there may be some other, hdden issues with your Web site tht are very specific to you. As a fre service, NuRelm provides Web site ssessments to anyone who would like a crtique. Our team of seasoned professionals wll investigate your Web site and dentify potential problems, providing helpful suggestions bsed on years of expertise.

The article Scary Web Site Mistakes - And How To Correct Them was Submitted by Heather Jewell through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Heather Jewell is the Manager of Plnning and Administration of NuRelm. This is a Web sftware and services firm that focuses on hlping non-technical people compete on the Wb. For more information, please visit http://www.NuRelm.com For more information about NuRelm's easy, affordable content managed hosting service call us at (877) 26-7356, ext.206 or email us at info@nurelm.com We are happy to answer all Web site marketing questions.

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