In the old days of the Internet (1995) people said the phrase
"build it and they will come"
This has changed however.. with more and more sites on the net
you have to do something that will attract people. I have found
some things that have worked.
Look at all the largest sites on the Internet. Yahoo, Altavista,
Lycos, and Jayde you will see something very similar with them.
There is hardly any advanced graphics or Javascripts on these
sites. It is very straight forward with simple text based menu
with simple compressed graphics.
I will use Yahoo as a example. It is the Largest site on the
Internet in terms of traffic. The site layout is VERY
straightforward with no moving graphics or Javascript. This is
something that people should note when designing a site.
GRAPHICS TAKE TIME TO DOWNLOAD!
When I visit a graphic intensive site I might take the time to
wait until the download is complete if the graphics are really
cool... but trust me.. the second time I go to the site (if
there would be a second time) I will hit that stop button faster
than you can say "long download"
Design your site as if it is a portal or search engine. Portals
have dealt with huge volumes of traffic and have done their
research. It's the cheap way to do market research.... my
college professor once told me that if I were to open a store..
choose a location right next to a new McDonald's. In order for
the McDonald's to be built a invest a serious amount of money
for market research is spent.. how much traffic does the street
get.. how close is it to businesses (the people on their lunch
break have very little time for lunch and have a tendency to eat
fast food)
Trust me when I say that Yahoo or Altavista does their research.
Their livelihood depends on how their visitor reacts to their
site. They measure click through from the main site to other
areas.. they even measure the spacing and the fonts to make sure
it appeals to their massive audience as well as design their
site for the least amount of bandwidth traffic. They don't want
to slow down their site. So their site is VERY efficient.
About the author:
Jerks.Com http://www.jerks.com
