Does Your Web Site Need A Tune Up?

Written by Bill Daugherty


Continued from page 1

2 - Typos and Spelling

Typos and misspelled words can severely undermine an otherwise great site. Check and recheck every page for these errors.

3 - Navigation

Broken or missing links are all too common on many sites I visit. So, double-check all your links and make sure they are functioning properly. Those 404 messages are a big-time turnoff, plus it means part of your site is inaccessible.

If you have a lot of links on a page, arrange them in neat rows with uniform spacing between each.

It is critical to have all links clearly identified.

4 - Design

Your color choices are a matter of personal taste. But try to avoid using too many colors. This can give your site a carnival-like effect that leaves your visitors tired and dizzy. As a general rule you shouldn't use more than four colors.

Too many different fonts on a page can also have a negative effect on your design. When I look at a page that somehow just doesn't look quite right, but I can't put my finger onrepparttar problem, it usually turns out to berepparttar 132108 font(s).

Animation is great, but too much movement is distracting. Don't load your pages with too many banners. One or two atrepparttar 132109 top or bottom should berepparttar 132110 limit.

This concludes your web site's tune up. These guidelines are by no means an exhaustive list of allrepparttar 132111 problems and errors that can plague a web site. But, it is an effective checklist ofrepparttar 132112 more common flaws, and it will serve to greatly improverepparttar 132113 performance of any web site.

Bill Daugherty is editor and publisher of the marketing and advertising ezine "E-Power Marketing." Visit his site and subscribe at: http://www.freeadsgalore.com Visit Bill"s latest project at: http://www.instantez.com To contact Bill mailto:bill@epower.zzn.com


DO NUMBERS HELP?

Written by Bob McElwain


Continued from page 1

Why Are There Such Great Differences?

The apparent dilemma stems fromrepparttar fact that we all have our own set of visitors. Each comes to us from a vast pool of many millions of Web users. Those who show up on my site may never even hear about yours, let alone visit.

Thus my visitors are not representative of yours, except as torepparttar 132107 fundamentals. For example, all site visitors ask first, "What's in it for me?" Such basics relate to every site. The specifics do not.

Even if a massive, well respected study reported only 1% of surfers use 640 x 480 monitors, it still might not apply to your site. For as suggested above,repparttar 132108 pool is so vast, hoping to draw a truly random sample from it is impossible.

Further, things change rapidly onrepparttar 132109 Web. Not long ago, Netscape wasrepparttar 132110 browser leader. As Microsoft continued to demand Internet Explorer be installed on all new systems delivered,repparttar 132111 dominance of Netscape began to fade. Even after being acquired by AOL, market share continued to drop.

Can you assume it will continue to do so? That would leave us with only one major browser. A Microsoft product. A company already at odds withrepparttar 132112 Justice department in anti-trust actions. It may prove to be in their best interest to assure that Netscape regains a significant share ofrepparttar 132113 market.

What seems so today is suspect, for it may not be so tomorrow. Rather than making assumptions which may prove false tomorrow,repparttar 132114 better plan is to accommodate all possible options today, and be prepared to make changes tomorrow.

The Mistake That Matters Most

Butrepparttar 132115 second mistake made byrepparttar 132116 fellow mentioned above is in ignoring Netscape users however small their numbers be. Suppose only 5% of my visitors use Netscape. To toss away this many potential customers is foolish at least. I takerepparttar 132117 time to make it work for them.

Hasten Slowly

JavaScript has been available for some time. Is it wise to use it if N% of systems can not deal with it? The better plan is to offer an alternate way to access your site for those who can not.

Plug ins are popular of late. Will users takerepparttar 132118 time to download and install one so as to see your site in all its glory? I doubt it. What's best is to offerrepparttar 132119 option to do so, but be sure your site functions effectively without it.

One of my systems uses a Pentium II with awesome supporting resources. However, it doesn't have a sound card. A site that requires I have one, will hold my attention only so long as it takes to hitrepparttar 132120 Back button or enter another URL.

Killer Assumptions

If we make assumptions aboutrepparttar 132121 power and tools our visitors have readily available, torepparttar 132122 extent we are wrong, we are driving them off our sites.

When you consider how hard it is to draw a new visitor, driving even one away seems a pretty silly thing to do.

Bob McElwain Want to build a winning site? Improve one you already have? Fix one that's busted? Get ANSWERS. Subscribe to "STAT News" now! mailto:join-stat@lyris.dundee.net Web marketing and consulting since 1993 Site: Phone: 209-742-6349


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