I am a web designer, and an internet junkie and I have a few pet
peeves that need purging...
TIPS FOR YOUR WEB SITE If you are a "real" company with "real"
products and "real" people, please put your address and phone
number on your site (usually on a contact page is best).
Afterall, you put your address and phone number in your city's
phone book don't you? You put this information on your business
card too, don't you? Think of your cyber presence the same way
you do with your earth presence. Most people will be more
comfortable ordering from a company that doesn't appear to be
hiding behind the anonymity of the internet. An address may not
be as important as a phone number as some businesses are home
businesses and safety concerns may be an issue.
Please let your visitors know right up front - before they fill
out forms - that your offer is good only in the USA (or
wherever). As well, let your visitors know what currency your
prices are in. This is especially important to Canadian visitors
who are burdened with the "dollar that isn't worth a dollar".
And speaking of forms.... please check them to make sure they
work properly. Make sure you have enough characters allotted to
all fields so that the user can correctly input a postal code or
zip code, province or state etc. - And, if I spend a lot of time
filling out your form, I expect the SUBMIT button to work! If
you are using java for your forms, please check that it is
compatible for both Netscape and Explorer.
TIPS ON EMAIL I get letters all the time from people claiming to
have visited my web site, and then they go on to say that they
have a great offer that is a perfect fit with my site....
Hmmmm... I don't think my dog Harpo (who has his own email
address) is really interested in selling Golf Clubs!! I have
about 50 email addresses and the "harvesters" have a picnic when
they get to my site! So my DELETE key gets a vigorous workout!
And please - this is a MUST - have an easy REMOVAL system in
place. Asking me to call a long distance number is not
appropriate. Instead, have a special email address for removals.
If you are not sending SPAM you won't be overwhelmed with
removals... and if you are sending SPAM, then you deserve to
have your mailbox filled to the brim!
TIPS ON SOFTWARE Please, please, please.... put the system
requirements right up front! I'm a MAC user and nothing is more
frustrating and disappointing to actually start downloading a
great piece of software only to find out it is for a PC! And if
you're not developing your software for MAC... just take a look
at Apple's quarterly report - you'll see that Macs are gaining
in popularlity. If you don't build it - someone else will!
IF YOU'RE SELLING SOMETHING Get a real email account.... and a
real web site - a professional one with your own domain name.
I'd be more inclined to take you seriously if you take your
business seriously.
SPELL CHECK No one is perfect.... but at least take a few
minutes to proofread your work... after all, if you claim to
provide a great product or service and you have typos in your
emails or web site.... well, it just blows your credibility as a
professional. The biggest culprits I see are.... you / yours,
their here
COMPATIBILITY Please check your pages in Netscape and Explorer!
Tables work differently in each browser - incorrect coding can
make your site virtually invisible in Netscape! And those CSS
stylesheets with the very small type... sometimes I can't even
see the "l"s on a Mac in Netscape and the type is so small that
it is impossible to read. Please test your site on both
platforms and with both browsers.
I hope that the information above will inspire you to check out
your web sites and make any changes that may be necessary. We
can all make the web a better place!
About the author:
The Mac Lady - Nancy O. Johnson - Vancouver, BC Canada "Oh, what
a wicked web I weave...." Web Design / Web Hosting INTERNET:
http://www.the-mac-lady.com / EMAIL:
mailto:maclady@the-mac-lady.com
