If you have ever purchased software, you know you have to read the box in order to find out if the software will work on your system. That is somewhat acceptable when it comes to software. However, on a website, it is not acceptable. A lot of designers out there will take the easy route and build a site that is not compatible with all browsers and then publish a list of plug-ins on your home page you will need in order to view the site. You will see this a lot on multimedia sites that advertise Hollywood movies or websites where you can download multimedia content. This is mostly done to protect the content. However, there are a lot of sites out there that require you to make additional downloads in order to see flat text content or products. You should always follow the guidelines below (or your web developer should be following them) when creating any website.

• Keep it simple: If you were selling your product or service in a bricks and mortar location, wouldn't you make it as easy as possible for your customers to find your product/information? So why not follow the same rules when building a website?
• User instinct: You are pretty much guaranteed that your web site is not going to be the very first website your potential customer has ever visited. They have developed a sense of where things are and where they should be. In order not to frustrate your new customer with having to learn how to use your site in order to find the information they need, it is always best to keep the navigation structure of your site in a proven format.
• 24-hour salesman: Your website should be set up in a way to guide your customers through all the steps they are used to taking in order to get to that final page whether it be your contact page or purchase page. By having the customers take steps they are not used to along the way, confusing them with downloads, forms which require information in order to proceed, or anything else that is likely to inconvenience them, will only result in a missed sale that you will never know about because unhappy, potential customers don't complain. They just don't come back, they will also not recommend your site, which is worse.

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