 4 Perfect Ways to Not Build a Perfect Home PagePublished Date: 2008-09-11 14:30:10 WorkOnInternet.com
Now when customers come in, the first thing that they’ll be seeing is the hotel’s receptionist, now it’s up to the receptionist to convey the necessary information that these customers wanted. And if the receptionist fails in providing these information, then the hotel will certainly loose their customers. No matter how good the hotel looks like or how good the quality of their services is, with a receptionist that can’t provide the necessary information the customer wanted with that hotel, then all will be for nothing. These also go with websites and their home pages. If the home page cannot provide the information the visitor wanted at first glance, then there is a huge chance that the visitor will leave. Now I’ve been visiting countless websites already, and just like what Thomas Edison said when he discovered the light bulb, “I found 1000 ways not to build a light bulb”, I also found several ways on how home pages can ruin a web site. What’s This About Again? Ok, the first thing about home pages should do is to convey information to visitors at first glance. But some of the sites I’ve visited recently lacked in this area. The design of the web site may be important in some ways that it could catch certain attention, but the information within that design is what’s more important. The first content anyone sees on your home page is the most critically valuable, for usability and as well as SEO. It’s important for visitors visiting the site or the page for the first time to easily understand what the deal is, and if they're in the right place. Some home pages don't mention what the site's about at all. So what are you meant to do when you land on one of these pages? You don't want to have to deduce or guess what's going on. Your only driving motive is to figure out “Am I in the right place to get what I'm looking for?” So it is very important that this question must be answered upon the first time users gain access to a web site. Don't be tempted to try and retain people on your site who are actually looking for something else. They're not going to stick around very long, and by not putting your wares on show first-up, the overall success rate will decrease because you'll risk losing the people who have turned up to get what you're offering. Letting the visitors know about your website is quite simple really. All it takes is for your home page to have what your business is about, on what your business do, and from whom. And from there, the entire question will be answered a lot quicker, positively or negatively. Check out what the Web design Philippines has to provide to make your web site more approachable and accessible. Visit the Web design Philippines with Optimind Technology Solutions. Is This a Dead End? Dead ends in a website are common on some sites that I’ve visited. And these dead ends can only produce a lot of frustration and annoyance for a lot of visitors. The common dead ends that I’ve experienced are those with the “Under Construction” or “Coming Soon” placeholder. If you’re trying to discourage visitors to visit your site again, then this is the proper way of doing it. Just think like a user visiting your site for a second here, what will you feel when you visit a site that has the “Under Construction” or “Coming Soon” placeholder on a page where you know the information that you need is in it? Disappointed? Well you will be really disappointed and annoyed by that. And visitors would likely think that the site isn’t finished enough to provide them with the information that they needed, and you wouldn’t want that happening. Its more preferable if ever that you build a web site, and a certain page would only be updated after 5 years, then its much more preferable if you don’t make that link in your home page to that page. If you do, visitors would likely to find more disappointments when they click on that button, and that they’ll likely to not visit your site again within 5 years. Check out what the Web design Philippines has to provide to make your web site more approachable and accessible. Visit the Web design Philippines with Optimind Technology Solutions. Do I Get What I Want Here? Apart from the goals of your web site, it’s also important that we take into mind the goals of the visitors visiting your site. Now why should the visitor care about your web site if they could just visit other? Always remember that visitors visiting your web site have their own agenda in visiting your web site. May it be for fun or for information gathering. Whatever it may be, visitors have their own goals in visiting your website, and they want to get it fast. The best way for you to achieve your goal is to help your visitors achieve theirs. This in turn will make your visitors come back again, or link your site, or recommend your site to others. This strategy is commonly called the win/win tactics, keeping people on the site by giving them what they want long enough for the site to get what it wants. Check out what the Web design Philippines has to provide to make your web site more approachable and accessible. Visit the Web design Philippines with Optimind Technology Solutions. Wow! That Looks Nice! If you would notice, when we build home pages, we always put a lot of images, graphics, animations, and other things in it, but have you really thought of why we do this? Yes. To convey to the visitors the information about your web site and what your web site can do for them. But sometimes, these effect cant quiet get the necessary information to convey to the visitors. Simply putting images or graphics or animations on your home page are not enough to let them know what you do or what you provide. Text has its own strengths, able to convey information very quickly and accurately. Imagery, too, can impart a rich combination of “soft” info, or a high-level of complex info in the form of a graph, chart, or diagram. But when you’re constructing a home page that really grabs hold of your visitors, the selection of images and graphics must be credible. A perfect example for this is a use of some generic photos such as a photo of a great shipyard on your home page. If the business of that website doesn’t actually have a great shipyard chuck full of storage ships, then don’t put that. Credibility is the first thing that visitors would want with a web site. You should always think of the saying, “What You See Is What You Get” when building a web site. Check out what the Web design Philippines has to provide to make your web site more approachable and accessible. Visit the Web design Philippines with Optimind Technology Solutions at http://www.myoptimind.com.
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