Computer and Web Articles

Make sure your company’s website doesn’t have ‘dead-end’ pages. Dead-end pages fail to give your visitors a sense of where they should be going next or what actions they should consider taking.

Did you provide a useful overview of your company’s history on your site’s About Us page? Great! But don’t stop there. Tell visitors that, now they know more about your fantastic company, they should check out your list of services and products by clicking this link … or that they should now fill out your convenient online form to schedule an appointment with one of your brilliant associates.

Don’t let your visitors read through a section of your site’s information and then wonder, “Okay, so … now what? Am I supposed to order this product? Do I have to call in for a consultation? Do they even have an office location near me?” Provide a bit of guidance and a gentle helping hand to show people around your site and encourage them to take the action(s) you want them to take.

I can hear the whispers now… “Is she crazy??” “Has she lost her mind?” “Is she shooting herself in the foot by writing about this?”

I have a hunch many people will feel a bit suprised by what I’m sharing today. Why? Because the tool purports to do for free the exact service my company offers to clients (not for free): create awesome websites.

Wix.com enables individuals and companies to build their very own Flash websites. For free. The Wix interface offers drag-and-drop site creation and requires zero knowledge of HTML or programming. To sweeten the pot, Wix sites are even search engine friendly!

Musicians can build beautiful sites to present and promote themselves. Designers can build their very own online portfolios using Wix.  Photographers can build their very own online portfolios without paying a web designer one single penny.  In fact, close to three million websites have already been created using Wix.

What’s the catch, you ask? How can such an amazing tool possibly be free? Well, while there is no actual catch, there are a few rules you have to play by. First, you can’t use your own domain name. Second, Wix ads will appear on your website. And third, you are limited to a set amount of bandwidth, storage, and number of pages.

If you’d prefer to build a website free of these limitations, you can do so by upgrading to one of Wix’s Premium Plans. Depending on what you’re looking for (eCommerce? Stats Tracking? Premium support?), a Wix Premium Plan could run you $4.95, $9.90, $14.90, or $19.90 per month. Pay a year in advance and your pricing becomes even cheaper.

And just in case you’re still tottering on the fence, Wix offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee that lets you to try one of their Premium Plans for two weeks and, if you’re not happy, get all your money back. Simple as that.

Check out the features. Check out the galleries of beautiful sites other Wix users have created. No need to hire your own website designer — just sign up, build your own website, and have fun.

This is definitely one of those “Well DUH” tips that will cause many an eye to roll.  Yet I’ve come across many Summit County websites that have completley overlooked this basic business website concept.

Assuming you have a company logo (and I hope I’m not assuming too much there?), and assuming you use this logo in places like your business cards, newspaper/magazine ads, on the sides of your trucks, etc., then you should by all means make sure that your logo has prominent placement on every page in your website. Why not just the homepage, you ask? Because some of your site’s visitors first arrive on pages other than your homepage–and they need to be able to quickly orient themselves as well.

Regardless of how your visitors arrive at your website, they need to be able to immediately determine if they’ve arrived at the right place; don’t make a missing or tiny logo to cause them wonder and worry if they’ve ended up on the wrong site.

Take a moment and take a glance at your site. Is your logo a prominent, consistent component on all pages in your site?

QUESTION: I’m not really sure how to get the most out of my LinkedIn account. Any suggestions?
- Lynn, Breckenridge

ANSWER: Well, it depends on what, exactly, you’re trying to achieve by having a LinkedIn account in the first place. Though I’m not aware of your goals, I can still point you in the direction of a great slideshow. (Tip: It’s easier to download it and view it on your computer than it is to try and zoom in and read its content in the little slideshow viewer on the website; you’ll need to create a free account to do this, though.)

Here’s the link: http://tinyurl.com/yh7jobv.

I found myself struggling to read content on three websites this week.

Not fun. Very frustrating.

The sidebar of one website contained baby blue text on a grass green background, the second website displayed dark gray text on top of a medium gray, and the third website had red text on a royal blue background.

The fact that I, with my pretty darn good eyesight, had to strain to read content in these websites had me wondering what all the people out there with poor eyesight are doing when they arrive at similar visual challenges.

How long does it take people with less-than-perfect eyesight to give up and click away? How many businesses are losing money because their sites’ visitors cannot read their content due to a simple lack of color contrast?

Take a look at your website. Is the text easy to read? Don’t take the basic concept of contrast lightly; all the energy and money you’ve spent advertising, working on your website, and bettering your search engine rankings could be going right down the drain if you’re forcing people to struggle and strain just to read your site’s text.

Does your website contain forms for visitors to fill out?  A general contact form? An online store checkout form? A special product inquiry form? If your site contains even just one form, take a moment to ask yourself the following questions; make sure your forms are working for you—not against you.

1. Are you asking site visitors to provide you with irrelevant information? Honestly; why are you requiring people give you their home and business phone numbers when all they’d like to do is ask you a quick question?
2. Are you trying to collect more information than necessary? Do whatever you can to minimize the amount of time it takes for a site visitor to contact you via your online forms.  Just because I want to make contact with your company does *not* mean I want to give up my lunch break by having to fill out a mile-long form.
3. Do you take care of your visitors after they submit their information? I’ve used forms where, after hitting Submit, the page flashes and I suddenly find myself looking at a completely empty version of the form I just filled out. No note saying “your information has been submitted”. No text saying “Thank you for filling out our form.” Nothing letting me know when I should expect a response. Do I fill out the form again? Did my inquiry go through? A simple, clear confirmation message can prevent confusion and frustration related to your online forms.
4. Do you have “Clear” or “Reset” button at the bottom of your form near your Submit button? If you do, get rid of it. Now. People do not take time out of their day to visit your website, carefully fill out your online form, get to the bottom–and then delete all the information they just typed out. Clear and Reset buttons only increase the likelihood that you’ll frustrate your site’s visitors; these buttons do nothing but make it easier for your visitors to accidentally delete all the information they just entered.

You told your webmaster to make sure that music plays the instant a visitor arrives on your homepage. I mean, you LOVE that music; it just gives the right “feel” to your site. It really sets the tone and represents your company’s products and/or services.  The music makes your website feel more relaxing/energetic/fun/enter your own adjective here.

As a professional web designer, I strongly urge you to consider not automatically playing music upon your visitors’ arrival to your website. Why?

• Your visitor might already have music playing on her computer’s speakers – trying to play your song play over the top of your visitor’s music is rude, and it’s pretty darn confusing when one suddenly hears two songs playing at once.
• Your audio file could potentially be causing your site to load much, much slower than it should be loading.  This detracts from your users’ overall experience while on your site.
• Your visitor might have his speakers turned off or his audio on mute.  What’s the point of playing music if this is the case (especially if the music is slowing down your site)?
• Your visitor might be viewing your website at a location where things need to be kept quiet – such as a work cubicle, or their living room at night after the baby has been put to sleep.  These people will assure you that they do NOT appreciate sudden, unexpected noise coming from their computer.
• It may be difficult to believe, but I guarantee you that many, many visitors to your site will really, really dislike your music.

Unless you’re a musician, singer, or band, people likely visit your website to learn more about you, your products, and/or your services. They didn’t come to listen to music that you thought was cool.

If you really, really, really love your music, the very least you can do is give visitors the option to press a Play button if THEY want to listen to that music. And go ahead — track the number of clicks that Play button receives.  You might be surprised at the incredibly high percentage of visitors that pass on the option of playing that funky music.

I recently came across a wonderful article written by Trenton Moss that discussed the importance of credibility in business websites.

Web credibility is all about presenting your business on your website in such a way that you come across as trustworthy and knowledgeable. (And … hopefully you truly are both of those things… Right?)

Making adjustments and updates that result in a more credible website can reap huge rewards for your business, so have a look at Trenton’s five recommendations for making your business website more credible (and therefore more effective):

1. You must prove there’s a real organization behind your website.
2. Your website needs to provide ‘sensitive’ information.
3. All statements and claims should be backed up by third-party evidence.
4. There has to be proof that your organization is growing and has clients.
5. Your website needs to have an air of professionalism and confidence.

If your company has its own website (and I really, really hope it does), I highly recommend you read Trenton’s complete article, which can be found right here: http://tinyurl.com/ybbcy86.

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Attention all Summit County business owners! Jason Brewer of SnowHome Properties keeps a regularly updated blog in which he posts news about the people and events in our county.  His blog can be found right here: http://news.snowhome.com.

Here’s the sweet news: he’s currently offering a free blog post to any interested local businesses (other than realtors).

It’s a great win-win situation for everyone involved; Jason gets to add great content and potentially attract more visitors to his blog while you get to have your business featured and seen by all who visit the blog. Several businesses have already taken advantage of Jason’s offer, including Stillpoint Massage and Wellness Center of Frisco, the Qi Gong Institute of Summit County, and the Colorado Workforce Center.

Interested in making your business a featured business? It’s easy and free. Just contact Jason at Jason@SnowHome.com to learn more.