In our Part II follow-up, here are a few more items that can maybe help you avoid someone leaving your website the moment they see it:
- Be careful about your color choices. While there are many websites out there with some pretty bad color choices (see below), another problem can be how many different colors you use. If you think using several different bright font colors helps your text stand out, think again. People don’t want to be “yelled” at while reading your website.
- Be careful about the photos you use. First, there are copyright issues with many of the photos out there. But, another problem is using a common “posed” photo scene. You know, the ones you see where there’s someone answering the phone with the headset on or performing some other common service. People may not take you seriously if you just stick a bunch of these “stock” photos out there. The best would be to get a photographer to shoot some custom shots for you. You might think that could be expensive but, have you seen the price of some of the “good” photos that are available on-line?
- You should avoid posting your email address on your Website to reduce Spam. Use a contact form (and if your programmer is good, they’ll be able to hide your email address in there as well.) Another advantage to a contact form is prospective customers may have questions that you haven’t anticipated or there may be problems with your site such as broken links (however, this is unlikely if RWS is maintaining your website.)