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[Faken]

A professional website is, above all else, professional. What constitutes professional though? This question has been asked by many, and the answers are as varied as those asking the question.

Professional Website Do's and Don'ts
By Wynn Wilder

Do's and Don'ts of a Professional Website

A professional website is, above all else, professional. What constitutes professional though? This question has been asked by many, and the answers are as varied as those asking the question. There are at least a hundred or more possible aspects to consider, some consisting of parts of others, such as demographics and content. Each factor has its own affect on how customers perceive a website.

Being professional is an attitude portrayed by you, the business owner, your business and your website. You don't have the luxury of smiling real big, wearing your best suit, and shaking hands with the customer. Your site has to do that for you. This brief list of what to do and what not to do when creating a professional website is only the beginning, one small step towards success.

DO'S

1. Know Your Visitors.
Your site should be designed to fit their needs and wants. If you're selling, know the demographics of the people you're selling to. If you're just providing information, know who you are targeting. Rule of thumb: Know more about your audience than they know about you.

2. Know Your Product.
As strange as that may sound, people know when a site offers products or services that they themselves know little about. If you are letting someone else write the content for your site and that someone doesn't know the product, then your customers won't know it either. Anticipate questïons from customers and answer them before they are asked.

3. Make Your Site Visually Pleasing.
Just because bright red and bright blue are your favorite colors doesn't mean that they should be the dominant colors on your site. Red and blue are at different ends of the spectrum and will give viewers a headache if viewed too long. You want to make viewers feel welcome, comfortable, and that they are able to trust you.

4. Outline the Concept of the Site Before It is Created.
Know the answers to those golden questïons: who, what, when, where, why and how. While these questïons apply to your demographics they are also helpful in deciding what information is truly important and what isn't. Pinning down your tacit knowledge is often a challenge, and not all tacit knowledge is valuable. What do you want the customers to know and what do the customers want to know?

5. Make Your Prices Readily Available.
Hide your prices and customers will wonder what else you are hiding. Don't wait until after you ask for their credït card information to tell them how much it costs. You don't make salës that way; what you do make is frustrated customers who tell other potential customers to stay away from your site.

6. Keep Your Site Credible.
Back up what you say with statistics or links to articles that support your claim. If you have experts in your company, highlight them. Show the customer that there are REAL people running the business. Update the content as often as possible - if updating the content isn't possible, add links to news articles and update those links. It is time consuming, but in the end it is worth the time and effort.

7. Ask for Input from People Who Know Nothing About Your Product/ Service/ Business.
This is the best way to get true feedback. People who know nothing about what you are doing can find the smallest mistake and ask the best questïons. They can give you a fresh perspective on your site and sometimes your business. They don't know what you know, and they often see what you don't.

8. Use Images that Portray Confidence.
You want the customer to trust you right? Then show them that you believe enough in yourself and your product that there is no doubt that you are trustworthy. Dress for success. You wouldn't wear snow boots on a hot summer's day, would you? Then don't let your site wear images that could make you look cheap and untrustworthy.

9. Keep Your Site Translator-Friendly.
This can sometimes be challenging as we tend to use different terminology than other countries. What we would consider 'normal phrasing' may be considered 'odd' or offensive to someone else. Avoid slang and test your site with a translator. See which words are translated and which ones aren't, then try to figure out why.

10. Be Consistent Throughout the Site.
Making each page of your site different can be entertaining to teenagers and new internet users, but most of your potential customers aren't new to the internet. If a viewer feels as though they're on a different site each time they clïck a link on your site, they are likely to go to another site. Consistency counts in site design and professionalism, and your customers will expect it.

DON'TS

1. Don't Guess at Who You're Trying to Reach With Your Site.
'Guesstimation' is for horse shoes and card games. If you don't know your demographics, then you might as well have thrown your site together.

2. Don't Get Too Technical.
Your customers are the ones reading your site, so it should be written for them. Sure, your competition might read your site as well, but they already know the business jargon. Besides, you aren't trying to sell to them anyway. Remember, other business owners may browse, but your customers are your buyers.

3. Don't Give Your Customers A Headache.
There are 256 colors available for site design. 216 of those are browser 'safe.' Just because there are an abundance of colors does not mean that they all should be used at once. Warm colors shouldn't be used with cool colors because of the conflicting hues. Meanwhile, bright colors make the eyes work harder to focus and after a few minutes will likely give your viewers a headache.

4. Don't Keep Content That Isn't Being Read.
Keeping track of what your customers are actually reading is very helpful. You want a customer to peruse your site as completely as possible. The more they know, the better your chances are that they will purchase or sign-up. If a page isn't being read then try something else. Rewrite it. Add psychological triggers. Rephrase. Find a way to make the page valuable.

5. Don't Repeat the Same Information on Every Page.
The viewer doesn't want to read the same material over and over. Give them new, fresh information on each page. If they want to go back and read the previous page, give them that option.

6. Don't Hide Contact Information.
You'll find conflicting information on this topic. Some designers will tell you to put your contact information on every page, but customers tend to find that redundant. One page with multiple ways to contact you is more effective even if the customer nevër visits the page. Just having the page there tells them that you can be reached and that you really are there for their convenience.

7. Don't Use Animations.
Some would say use animations to draw attention to your ad, product, 'new' idea/newsletter/etc. but by following that suggestion you frustrate the customer. Flashing, moving objects distract the eyes. A customer is there looking for information, if their eyes are distracted while reading, their comprehension decreases while their frustration rises. The use of colors such as yellow and orange become helpful in this area. Bolding or italicizing words is another way to emphasize phrases, or items you want the customer to notice.

8. Don't Use Multiple Fonts.
It only takes the eye seconds to adjust to a new font, but those seconds are distracting to the mind. Different sizes, styles, and colors are confusing. Choose one font and stick with it. Consistency is more important than creativity when it comes to text.

9. Don't Take Control Away From the Viewer.
Creative cursors, full screen browsers, and other 'entertaining' aspects of site design are great, if your target audience is teenagers or new internet users, but for a professional website they give the appearance of being cheap, second rate, and amateurish.

10. Don't 'Bunch Up' the Text.
Add spaces between paragraphs so customers don't feel overwhelmed with information. Placing a small picture pertaining to the content gives the eyes time to relax before reading further.


About The Author
Wynn Wilder is a Website Psychologist and owner of Ctritical Thinking.

[Beere]

This one's just great! I love it!
Maybe is would have been better if it was just a little more angled to the standard site. Not many people with companies with hired staff comes to these tutorial sites. This is just my oppinion though. I really learned a few things after reading this though.

Cheers
//Beere

[Jamie Huskisson]

these rules can be applied to any sort of site...

[Rafe]

Jay, on Nov 22 2004, 05:39 PM, said:

these rules can be applied to any sort of site...

Although, obviously some of that stuff doesnt work for some sites, say, if your site doesnt sell anything.

Anyways, good guiide. It was really useful.

[Jamie Huskisson]

every site sells something

this site sells its tutorial listing (ie we want you to come back and view our tutorial listing..)

if you write tutorials your "selling" your tutorials to people to get them to come back

etc.

[Rafe]

Jay, on Nov 27 2004, 05:59 PM, said:

every site sells something

this site sells its tutorial listing (ie we want you to come back and view our tutorial listing..)

if you write tutorials your "selling" your tutorials to people to get them to come back

etc.

i mean like for a price.
Obviously all sites are selling something
but they arent necesarily a pay sale...

So thats where some of those does and donts dont apply.

[Kiko]

Very nice article. I like it a lot, although I find that there is a very important advice missing: Simplicity. Your site being simple does not mean it has to be bad or whatsoever. Anyway all the other points are really accurate and helpfull from my point of view, and are valid for making any kind of web site (or so I think).

Atte.
Kiko.

PostScriptum: Sorry if I misspelled something or whatever. English is not my primary language.

[Canen Art]

These are very helpful tips. Ive been tring to apply a lot of these to my site too. Somethings I never realized. Thanks for sharing this.

[Faken]

Actually, many people that view this website are business owners It was two guys looking to start an e-commerce site that inspired this site in the first place.

Faken

[Canen Art]

Faken, on Nov 28 2004, 09:20 PM, said:

Actually, many people that view this website are business owners It was two guys looking to start an e-commerce site that inspired this site in the first place.

Faken

Like myself. Im always tring to make my site better and better. Considering what my site is about, its a huge market out there, and its very hard to get noticed. But in the last few months its growing faster and faster. Im hoping in a year or so that Canen Art will start to be well known. And I wont stop there. But just to let you know, that this site has helped me a ton, and I just want to thank you for all the useful information you put on here.

Thanks P2L

[Jaymz]

...and subtle advertisements like that on forums will help you tons, like I got the uncontrollable urge to click the link and I'm visiting your site now

[Canen Art]

Right on. Thanks Jaymz. Hopefully there was a little something there for you, even if there wasnt, maybe just to see something different.

Its amazing how many ideas and help that is out there to better anything you are tring to do. I myself was amazed. But I will tell you a little here and there, and it sure makes you feel like you might have a shot out in such a large market.

Plus Im still learning all these new techniques, and I really feel in a year or two I could be going somewhere with this all. Plus I love to visit all the sites that post and share there site here on P2L.. even the ones I see in peoples sigs. And Im truely amazed. It gives me something to shot for.

Thanks again

[smx]

Thats a very true atrical! I am gonna have to put all that into consept when I update my website!