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KISS - Keep
It Simple Stupid
By
Tom Falco © 2001
You
know the saying: "Keep it Simple, Stupid!"
This
should be your mantra when you are designing your website,
especially your home page or gateway pages.
The
longer it takes for these pages to open, the more people
you will lose. There are far too many other sites on
the internet like yours, or damn well close and most
people will not wait for your splashy graphics or time
consuming downloads.
People
are coming to your site for information or with the
intent on purchasing something and it is important to
get them to stay. Even if it is just an information
site that represents a company or service, it is important
not to bore people with slow downloads.
If
you need to have splash graphics and long lists or photos,
please save them for another page and let the page that
your visitors will enter through be easy to navigate
and fast to download.
Many
e-commerce sites have a logo and not much else on their
first page and they just lead the visitors to an "eCatalog"
or something similar, where the visitors can root around
for what they would like to find after being introduced
to your site the proper way.
How
many times have you left a site while you waited and
waited for the page to open? Don't let this happen to
you.
Look
at your site now. Look at every gateway page and of
course, the homepage. Are they slow?
Keep
in mind that many people don't have DSL or 56K modems.
Just because you are up on the latest tech items and
computer peripherals, don't take for granted that many
people are using slow, older computers. Most organizations,
schools, smaller offices and such are using older computers.
This is a fact. Keep this in mind when designing your
site.
If
you run a commercial site, remember that people are
visiting your site to purchase something, not to be
dazzled with graphics and special effects. When a person
wants to purchase a bouquet of flowers, they want to
get on and get off in as short a time as possible. They
don't want all that song and dance involved with java
and other programs. Many commercial sites "remember"
your name and credit card and past purchases in order
to speed up your transaction. Why frustrate all this
by confusing people with too much on one page?
If
your site is an entertainment site, focus on what you
are trying to portray. Is that flash screen entrance
necessary? You may be losing many visitors just so you
can show off your entrance screen. Save the flashy stuff
for later. Let people get a feel for your site, let
them see what you have to offer and let them feel around
and navigate until they are comfortable. Then you can
bombard them with your graphics prowess.
It
is a great thing to get lots of unique hits. But what
good is it if people aren't sticking around? You need
to keep your site sticky. Don't turn people away with
long downloads and graphics.
KISS:
Keep it simple stupid!
Tom
Falco is moderator of "The Swap-O-Rama" List where you
can swap anything from ezine ads to hotel rooms and more!
For info, visit: http://www.XpectMore.com/Swap.htm or
to subscribe mailto:TheSwap-o-rama-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Also "American Pop Trivia List" visit: http://www.XpectMore.com/pop.htm
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