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 ones reading your site, so it should be written for them. Sure, your competition might read your site as well, but they already know 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 conflicting hues. Meanwhile, bright colors make 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, 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 page valuable. 5. Don't repeat same information on every page. The viewer doesn't want to read same material over and over. Give them new, fresh information on each page. If they want to go back and read 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 affective even if customer never visits page. Just having page there tells them that you can be reached and that you really are there for their convienence. 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 customer. Flashing, moving objects distract 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 customer to notice. 8. Don't use multiple fonts. It only takes eye seconds to adjust to a new font, but those seconds are distracting to 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 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 appearance of being cheap, second rate, and amateurish. 10. Don't 'bunch up' text. Add spaces between paragraphs so customers don't feel overwhelmed with information. Placing a small picture pertaining to content gives eyes time to relax before reading further.

Is your site cold and technical or warm and welcoming? Does it have a personality that will keep a viewer coming back just to see what is said next? You may not make a sale off first visit, but that is okay. The more they visit your site, more they trust you and more they tell others. Word of mouth advertising, just because your site has personality.

Being a People Person A salesperson is often referred to as being a 'people person.' Why is that? Simply put, everyone likes them. No matter what their surroundings are, or what they are selling these type of people are unstoppable. They may not like who they are selling to, but you would never know it. Their vibrant, bouyous personality radiates confidence and you just know that you can trust them. They become your friend instantly. And it is all because of their personality.

A website is inanimate, it provides information through images and text. Text online can, unfortunately, be misconstrued. The hazards of written word. Personality, while being a large part of text, is perceived more accurately. Your company can portray itself as being a 'people person' through its website. It is simply a matter of adding that personality.

Ask.com became popular because of its butler image. Kanoodle has their icon, google theirs. They all have personality. The content rich sites you visit most often have their own personality. We perceive this without realizing it. The phrase "birds of a feather flock together" has just as much importance online.

Showing you are Human Chat programs online became an instant success because we could talk to people any where in world. People just like us. You would add someone new to your 'buddy' list and after a while, they would either still be there or you would delete them. Why? Because of their personality. How did you know what their personality was when you were only sending text messages? You perceived their personality by what they said and how they said it.

The same thing is true when it comes to your website. What you are saying and how you are saying it makes a big difference. Your company not only became real, but you, as a person became real. If you can read through a website and 'feel' as though you know that company or person then that site has personality. Add some personality to your site. Stop writing your content for your competition and start writing it for your customers. Personality to personality.