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<Back to Things to Know>
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.
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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.
Jigsaw Sales two cents
Most of the websites we create (there are
always exceptions to the rule) have a proven navigation
structure, which everyone who uses the internet is familiar
with.
Catching the crooks
The enemy within
Batteries not included
System Requirements
To flash or not to flash
Perception is not
reality
Guaranteed
top ranking on search engines
Truth about link swapping
What
you can do and what you should do
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