Top 10 Web Design Mistakes
By Dyanna S. Culp, Temos
 We
can never see this type of advice enough times. These are all things
we know if we thought about them, but sometimes we need to be reminded
again. So, without further ado, here we go...
1. Choosing a Loser Domain Name
- URLs that do not reflect your company name or
primary business.
- Words in the URL do affect search engine ranking.
- No one can remember excessively long URLs and
some engines (such as Yahoo) refuse to accept them.
- Using the same URL for each page in the site.
This frustrates users trying to bookmark a page and sabotages search
engines trying to spider and list ALL of your pages.
2. Poor Choice of Content
- Web text written for the search engines while
forgetting about the human readers. Or even worse, neglecting to
consider either.
- Not using those all important key words and phrases
within the page text.
- Text that goes on and on in book style. Break
down the text into digestible paragraphs, use bullets, keep it brief
and to the point.
- Content with no focus- a site that tries to cover
everything, but nothing in depth, will rank low with both users
and engines.
- Misspelled words on a site doom it to oblivion.
Use spell check, and then proofread it over and over again. Do not
rely on spell check to pick up grammar mistakes.
- If you can't write, hire a professional Web writer.
- Outdated information- dead links and last year's
news make your site obsolete.
3. No Use, or Improper Use, of Tables
- Tables keep those columns of images, text, figures,
etc., from aligning unevenly in people's browsers.
- Tables used improperly do not readjust themselves
to fit in a variety of screen sizes, resulting in the page being
chopped off unless a user constantly scrolls back and forth with
the window arrows. Very irritating when trying to read a Web page.
4. Too much, too little Design Consideration
- Busy backgrounds and exotic fonts can cause your
message to be lost.
- Plain white pages may bore a user to death.
- Constant Movement- scrolling marquees, animations,
etc., are nerve wracking to visitors.
- Dismaying are dark backgrounds with hard to read
font colors on text heavy pages.
- The latest trend in tiny illegible font will make
us all go blind.
- Inconsistent use of fonts, color, and design throughout
the site.
- Lack of "space' around text and images- everything
is too crowded.
- Failure to tie the look of the site to the image
of the business/ individual it represents.
5. Excessive Graphics Use
- Slow loading Web pages lose much of their traffic
as that little Internet explorer globe spins round and round trying
to load the page.
- Developing a whole page as an image (such as Adobe
or Flash) means death to search spiders.
- Not optimizing image size to decrease load time.
- Neglecting to use thumbnails where appropriate.
- Throwing in excess images, especially animations,
just to show off your graphics skills or be "cute."
6. Poor Site Navigation -for Humans and Spiders
- Using graphics only (and no text) links within
the site. This prevents search engines from spidering the full site.
They should be able to follow text links to arrive at any and all
pages within the site.
- Drop-down menus may be the hottest new tool, but
most users still don't have a clue how to use them.
- Failure to place a link back to the home page
on every page in the site.
- No index or table of contents for the site.
7. Building Pages with Frames
- Frames are not indexed by many engines.
- Many people don't know how to use all of those
arrows for moving about in frames, and even fewer know how to resize
the individual frame windows.
- Most framed sites are built for specific screen
sizes. In different sized screens, the framed windows positioning
can become distorted and some portions of the page may not be viewable
at all.
8. Java Issues
- Trapping your visitor so they cannot escape with
the browser back button.
- Java script and applets present significant problems
to search engine spiders.
- Java applets slow down your page load time.
- Disabling right click does not stop anyone with
Web savvy from copying your text or images. It does however irritate
users wishing to copy and paste your contact or product info.
9. Cloaking, Hidden Web Text, and Redirects
- Cloaking is a devious tool for manipulating search
engine results with the inherent risk of being permanently banned,
if caught. In addition, it requires considerable time and money
compared to a non-cloaked site.
- Most engines are onto the trick of hiding text
within pages, and penalize for it - lowering your ranking.
- Redirecting an old dead URL is fine, but filing
a page with search engine designed text, and then using an immediate
redirect to a site that does not reflect the content of the original
page is considered spamming by the search engines.
10. Considering SEO after the Site Design is Finished
- Not utilizing image Alt tags.
- Neglecting the use of all site pages as possible
doorways. Any content that deserves to have its own Web page - deserves
its own specific meta tags, and a hard look at the text for keyword
inclusion.
- All pages should offer the ability to travel to
the home page through a spiderable text link.
- Using broad generic keywords in meta tags and
page text. Be specific! Think Ad Copy!
- Writing the meta tags for the search engines with
boring text that ranks high, but no one wants to click on.
- Submitting to the engines after signing up with
every Free-For-All links program online.
- Submitting to the engines before establishing external links. The
type and number of sites linking to you affects ranking. Google
and Hotbot place a strong emphasis on external links.
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