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Top 5 Mistakes that May Drive Your Visitors Away in Less Than 2 Minutes
You took the leap. You set up a website to display your important message. Congratulations! As in life, first impressions are important on the web. Web researchers found that you have about 2 minutes to make that first impression a good one. Visitors will judge your site in those few seconds on its professionalism and appropriateness to what they are looking for.
In fact, a website can lose about one-third of its potential customers due to poor design, according to a recent user study conducted by Jakob Nielson, Ph.D., a principal of the Fremont Calif.- based Nielson Norman Group.
Take a long hard look at your site. Or ask a friend to give you a brutally honest review of your site. Does it pass the test of professionalism? Are the graphics of good quality and clear? Is the formatting, font size and font colors consistent throughout the site? Or does your site commit design mistakes that speak AMATEUR as soon as it loads?
There are some common mistakes website owners make that may cause visitors to leave early. Correct these top 5 mistakes to make sure your visitors stay long enough to read your important message:
Mistake #1 They use large, squeezed or out of portion graphics.
Beginning website owners mistakenly post large graphics that seem like a good idea but usually will bloat the website. Large graphics will slow your page load and turn away impatient web surfers before they have a chance to read your message. Even so, do use them for graphics and photos help illustrate your communication and sell online.
Solution: Use optimized, web-ready photos and graphics. Web Wit Tip: If a larger image is needed to help illustrate your message, add a link that says, "Click here to see larger image." That way large images that slow your page load will only be displayed by people who really need to see a larger image.
Mistake #2 They use distracting elements that blink, bounce, scroll or turn circles.
Most novice websters are sure this will get the attention of their visitors. It's true visitors may enjoy the cutesy elements or flash presentations. But they may never focus on your important message as well. Unless the flash empowers your presentation, use the adage "Less is More."
Solution: Limit or eliminate any distracting elements from your website.
Mistake #3 They use too many different formatting styles
Unless your formatting is consistent throughout your site, it will spell UNPROFESSIONAL to its visitors and may cause them to leave early. Inexperienced site owners change formatting with too many different size, colors and styles of fonts throughout the site. They create text blocks that are out of alignment.
Solution: Use a consistent style and size of text throughout website. CSS style sheets are helpful. Learn basic HTML and explore CSS style sheets; it will improve your command of webbing for profit.
Mistake#4 They use colored backgrounds and graphics that make text illegible
Some colored backgrounds, graphics or textures make it difficult to read the type on a web page. Anything that hinders the readability of your message may cause visitors to give up and leave quickly.
Solution: Choose colors that will enhance readability of your site's message. Light backgrounds with dark text improves readability of your text every time.
Mistake#5 They use mismatched graphics that are inappropriate for the content of the site.
Unseasoned site owners will sometimes use graphics or photos that do nothing to help illustrate their message. For example, they choose cutesy stars and flowers on a site selling accounting services. Look for clipart and photos that will support your important message.
Solution: Select graphics or design elements that will harmonize and illustrate your site's message. Web Wit Tip: For non-techies like the author invest in inexpensive clipart/photo sets that will enhance and help illustrate your communications. Additionally, unless you are training to become a graphic artist look for graphic programs with templates to shorten your learning curve.
First impressions are important on the web. Follow the simple design techniques above and stop turning your visitors away at the door. Use your first few seconds to impress your visitors with simple design that delivers your powerful message effectively.
ŠEarma Brown, 10 yr. Web Developer, Author, Small Business Owner
Helps entrepreneurs and writers with full featured hosting, domain
names,websites and a host of other web solutions
eBk: Jumpstart Your Website to Success
P.O. Box 612, Wylie, Texas 75098-9998
http://www.bestarrowhosting.com
Free eZine: Web Wit mailto:webwit@arrowproduction.com
earma@bestarrowhosting.com
877-846-9908
Dedicated Server vs. Co-location Web Hosting
So - you know shared hosting no longer cuts it, and your single office connection is not enough to host a web server - so which is best, leasing a dedicated server or buying your own server and co-locating it someone's data center? Difference For those that are unsure of the difference, here it is in a nutshell. When you co-locate, you are simply renting space within someone else's facility to store your own server or servers. It's like a high tech gym locker that you are renting all or part of to house your servers. You either ship or deliver your server to your provider. Additional services provided with co-location vary from host to host but it certainly won't include the actual server. With a dedicated server you are getting all the features of co-location, plus the actual web server itself. Which is better? While it certainly depends on your particular needs, and there are excellent situations for both the dedicated server option is quickly becoming a better choice in more and more cases. If you already own a web server, or cluster that you prefer to use, then obviously co-location may be your best choice. If you are considering buying new equipment and shipping it off for co-location - please reconsider. The prices and equipment available in dedicated hosting these days are outstanding plus relieve you of the burden of hardware. Most hosts keep identical spare parts on hand for the types of servers used and are quick to react if something fails. Depending on your arrangement with a colocation deal hardware failure could mean paying to have a server shipped back (or you drive to get it), having it fixed yourself then sending it back to the data center. Please refer following web sites for useful resources related to web site hosting: http://www.vipwh.com http://www.thehostingguide.com
Cheap Web Hosting is No Bargain
Ever heard the saying "Penny-wise and Dollar-foolish"?
Avoid Getting Ripped Off By A Hosting Company
Chances are if you host multiple domains or websites you are spending too much money at your current hosting provider. Other hosting companies increase their profits by forcing you to create an additional hosting account every time you want to host a new domain or website. Let's say you have five (5) websites and they each cost you $10.00 a month. It is obvious you are spending $50 a month to host those five (5) websites, but did you know that you are getting ripped off?
Monitor Your Web Site for Downtime
For those in the Internet business the availability of their web site is a major concern. The cost of downtime for web businesses can amount to $10,000 an hour. And this is without counting the losses caused by missed opportunities and lost sales. Losses in image and credibility these businesses suffer because eventual downtime is even harder to quantify.
How Much Bandwidth Does Your Web Site Need?
One of the most common concerns people have when deciding to host a web site is figuring out how much bandwidth they'll need. Get too little bandwidth and you might be hit with overage fees or have your web site shut off altogether. Get too much and you're paying for bandwidth that you don't really need. The following is a helpful guide for determining the amount of bandwidth that's right for your web site.
Web Hosting in 2005 --- Finding the Niche and Cashing in!
Web Hosting in 2005 --- Finding the Niche and Cashing in!
Choosing Your Web Hosting Package
General rule of thumb is not to sign up for yearly web hosting plans. Instead, get monthly plan where you can unsubscribe from on the second month when you are not happy with the service. That is, if you ended up with an unreliable web hosting company in the first place.
Free or Paid Web Hosting?
Just finished your first website? So it's the time to look for some hosting and make a choise. Your first qustion probably will be whether to choose free or paid hosting service. Let's have a look at some advantages and disadvantages of these solutions. Free web hosting: (+) It's for free. You don't need to pay for domain name. (-) Your URL will be something like username.freehost.com or freehost.com/username. As I noticed above, the advantage is that you don't need to pay for domain. But note that if you move your website to another provider in the future you can loose some or all your traffic (there are some solutions how to solve this problem but it is not the point of this article). (-) Your provider will probably include ads to your pages - usually 1 or 2 banners, sometimes popup windows. If you plan to use banner exchange on your site read carefully their Terms and conditions. Some free hosts doesn't allow it. (-) Free hosts usually allow lower bandwith then paid hosts and a lot of them don't offer futures like PHP and MySQL. (-) A lot of free hosts change their Terms and conditions during some time. If your free host offers hosting wihtout ads now, don't be surprised when banner or popup appears on your site in the future. (-) Sometimes happens that free hosts cancel their free service and longer offer paid hosting only. In this case you have only 2 choises - pay them or loose your website. Paid web hosting: (+) You can host your own domain. If you decide to change the web hosting provider in the future, you easily transfer the domain to the new provider and don't loose your traffic. (+) Most paid hosts offer 24/7 support via email or live chat and some of them provide toll-free phone support. (+) You can expect better uptime then on free host. Some paid hosts offer uptime guarantee. (+) Paid hosts usually offer enough disk space and bandwith. Futures like PHP and MySQL are standard. Even if you are not programmer you can download plenty of free PHP scripts from internet. (-) Paid hosting coast money :o)
Web Hosting Data Transfer: How Much Is Too Much?
Bandwidth in its simplest terms refers to the amount of data that flows across a network wire in a given time period. For most web hosting providers, that time period is measured in a month. Web hosting providers are charged a certain amount per month or per year for an allocated amount of bandwidth from backbone providers and wholesale data centers. That cost is then passed on to the consumer in the form of web hosting plans.
Effectiveness of Web Hosting Directories (WHDs)
John is very happy today, for the first time in his life he has created his very own website. Now he is looking for a web host so that he can put his identity on the net. Casually he asks his friend Mac about it. Mac tells him that web-hosting directories are the best place to look for a web host. Getting curious John then asks Mac what exactly a Web Hosting Directory is. Mac responds that web hosting directories are a web hosting marketplace where prospective hosts list their products, plans, prices and other important information so that according to their requirements, customers can choose a suitable plan. Along with the details, it also contains web hosts' rankings. John is now extremely happy as his dream is finally going to come to fruition. Like John, there are many beginners who are in search of a reliable web host and come across web hosting directories. Here a new question arises: Are these web hosting directories really trustworthy sources for novices like John? To find an answer it's very important to understand the working of WHDs.
How To Choose A Web Host That Meets Your Needs
One of the most difficult choices you have to make when starting an online business is to choose the web host that meets your needs and budget. Throw in the search term "web hosting" into major search engines and you will see what I mean. There are countless web hosting providers out there offering great packages, and you will probably go crazy going through every one of them finding the real deal.
4 Tips to Find the Web Host That?s Right For You
Choosing to make a web site is a very big decision. However, even more important than deciding to make the website itself, is choosing your web host. There are many web hosts out there, and so it is very difficult to find the web host that's right for you. In order to find the best web host, it is important to find as many options as possible, and have a clear idea of what you want out of your web host. Following these four tips will make your search for a solid web host a lot easier.
The Problem With Web Hosting Today
When it comes to web hosting, the quality of the bandwidth is as important (if not more important) than the hardware your site runs on. That's because even with the fastest web server, your site will come to a crawl if it's connected to poor quality bandwidth.
Hosting Options for an Ecommerce Web Site
Deciding how to host your ecommerce Web site and what approach to take can be daunting. There are several approaches available, each with different advantages and disadvantages.
Great Web Hosting - What to Look For!
Web hosting can best be described as a modern-day marriage: none of this till death do us part stuff, it's more like I'll stick around as long as your uptime is 100%, you answer my frantic queries instantly, and you charge me less than a decent latte at Starbucks. What follows is a few tips to help make the relationship less rocky and possibly prosperous!
Top 6 Ways to Promote Your Web Hosting Business Part 2
Here are the following three methods that can help you improve your web hosting business. These three are targeted towards the service you provide:
Attracting Extra Web Hosting Customers By Targeting Cities, i.e. New York Web Hosting
These searchers are looking for a hosting company in a particular city, state, or country, but given the proper message they can often be convinced to try your hosting company. Afterall, given the nature of the web hosting industry, the actual location of your web hosts is not that important. The datacenter they use and the support team are really the 2 most important items.
Finding a reliable hosting provider
The website hosting business is very competitive these days with hundreds of thousands of reliable hosting companies out there but what company is best for your needs and that will provide you with a reliable hosting service from customer support to the reliability of there web servers.
Web Hosting Help ? What?s Bandwidth
Bandwidth can make all the difference when choosing where to host your website
Changing to a New Host? No More Worries!
John's online business is expanding. His customers are increasing day by day. However, he feels very frustrated at the moment as he finds his website is 'down' about every 4th day. Whenever he calls up the support team of his web host, he gets the same old answer that his problem will be rectified soon. If the problems do persist it will surely hamper his business. He has been with his present hosting provider for the last year but now he feels he has to find a new web host as soon as possible because his present hosting package is also not able to meet up with his growing demands. This is not a one-off occurrence that has happened only to John, it happens with many people like him. Changing the web host might become a cumbersome task if John and other people like him don't know the correct procedure of doing it. So, let's have a look at the following easy and simple steps: