What
are the elements of a great website? We created a list
- 12 rules for a great website. Use the rules as your
guidelines when you design or overhaul your site.
Overall
Look
Your visitor
makes her assessment of your website within seconds
of entering it for the first time. Go for clean, simple,
and attractive. It looks professional that way.
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Home
Page
Your home page
must convey your complete message. Think billboard.
Tell me exactly what you want me to know right up
front - tell me simply, clearly, and instantly.
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Message
It is tough
getting visitors. Give them a reason to stay. What
is your offer? Exactly to who is it directed? What
makes your site better than others like it? What is
in it for me if I stick around?
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Speed
It is mandatory
that your site load quickly. Use graphics judiciously.
Get rid of the gimmicks. Try to keep each page and
all its components under 40K bytes.
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Graphics
Size
Good graphics
adds colour to your site. But graphics are your biggest
bandwidth hog. So be careful. Crop them carefully,
reduce their dimensions, and use compression software
to squeeze out extra bytes.
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Text Legibility
Don't get fancy
with fonts. A simple font on a light background is
usually best. Separate wide blocks of text into columns.
Use plenty of white space.
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Page
Skim Ability
Use many short
headings. Highlight keywords within the body of your
copy to elaborate on the headings.
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Copy Quality
Your web story
is told with words - but your visitor is very impatient.
He does not like to read. So make your copy simple,
sharp and direct. Use half as many words as you think
you should. Keep your paragraphs and sentences short.
Use the word "you" a lot.
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Navigation
Make it easy
for your visitor to navigate your site - no matter
where he finds himself. Include a link back to your
homepage on every page of your site.
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Contact
Form
Your visitor
does not like filling out your forms. If you must
collect information from your visitors, collect as
little as is necessary. If you plan on collecting
your visitor's email address, tell her how you plan
to use it.
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Testimonials
Many of your
visitors are suspicious of cheats and incompetent
business people. Prominently list testimonials from
your best customers to increase their confidence in
you.
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Mistakes
You will lose
visitors if your site has broken links, missing graphics,
or scripts that don't run correctly. Check your site
often with the popular browsers (IE, Netscape, and
AOL) and fix the mistakes.
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