5 Things NOT to Have on Your Website

We’ve all visited websites that for one reason or another just turned us off. It could be an immediate dislike or a gradual disappointment. The result is usually the same, though; we leave the site without even considering the product or service the website is offering.

Don’t let your website fall into this category! The following are some things that you want to avoid on your website.

1. Bad Grammar or Misspellings

As a former journalist, this is a personal pet peeve. Incorrect grammar, punctuation or spelling is a strict no-no. To eliminate (or at least greatly reduce) mistakes like this, it’s important to proofread the content once, twice or even more. If you are not an expert in the English language, get someone who is to edit your content for you.

2. Too Much Flash

Not many viewers like to be bombarded with forced animation, videos or other graphical content before they can even read what’s on the site. Even worse are blinking/scrolling text and auto-loading sound. There may be a few visitors who will tolerate it, but most will just get annoyed and leave. It’s best to tone it down, unless your website is advertising hard rock music, or something similar.

This tip is also true of the colors used on your website. Do some research on what colors are the most appealing to your target audience and are best for readability. Make sure the color scheme also complements your company’s logo. The text and background should be easy to read.

3. Content Overload

Don’t make the mistake of cramming too much text on the site. Most visitors will initially do a quick scan for relevant content. You’ll draw more attention to the critical points of your message by leaving some white space around that text, graphics or video. If you fill the page from top to bottom, left to right, it’s difficult to notice the key elements.

Also, if you have paragraphs that are more than five lines long, you may want to think about breaking them up into shorter paragraphs, which are easier to read. Stress what you want the audience to focus on. If there is more to know, insert a link to another page.

4. Stressful Text

You know how when someone texts you in all caps? DOESN’T THAT MAKE YOU WANT TO TELL THEM TO STOP YELLING? The same is true of exclamation points—use them sparingly and never more than one at the end of a sentence. Too many exclamation points just makes you look desperate. It may even aggravate people to the point they click off your site.

If your goal is to stress an important point, then just make the font bigger and brighter (change the color) than the rest of the text.

5. Unexplained Links

First of all, don’t ever underline any text that is not a link. When there is a link, the hyperlinked text should either be underlined, highlighted or both. This sets it apart in the text and signals to the reader that they can click on it to learn more.

If your text isn’t underlined or highlighted, users won’t know there is a link unless they accidentally hover over the text.

Always explain what you are linking to and why. It’s not very useful to just list a bunch of titles (or worse yet, URLs) with links and not tell the reader why you have them on the site. And it’s better to have descriptive text for the link rather than using words like “click here” or “link”.

Worst of all? Having broken links on your page will really confuse and frustrate your reader. Test your external links often to make sure they are still valid.

Las Vegas SEO for Growth Can Help You Build a Great Website!

Don’t make these mistakes and others on your website. Let the experts at Las Vegas SEO for Growth evaluate your current website to make sure it’s optimal in appearance, functionality and SEO performance. We can also build one for you from the ground up that includes keywords and phrases to help your ideal customers find you. We provide expert design services to make your site visually appealing, and we focus on creating a site that is a long-term asset for your business.

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