I look at a LOT of websites every day and there are bad habits that I see over and over again that en masse can drive me up a wall. If you want to improve the professional look of your site, up your conversion rates, and not make your customers want to bash their heads against the wall, PLEASE take these 5 things off your website!
1. Music – I can’t tell you how many times I’ve nearly spilt tea on my laptop because all of a sudden country music is blaring out of my speakers. Music is not only distracting and heart attack inducing, but it will signal your boss that you are so not doing your job.
2. Blogger awards – You’re not in high school anymore so why are you posting your popularity contest winnings? It’s time to show off that you’re a business owner, not a teenager.
3. Outgoing ads and links – You’ve worked so hard to get people to your site so why are you sending them away? Unless you’re making a nice bonus from affiliate programs or your blog IS your business, you should make the links in your site bar inbound ones that show off your products, courses, or popular posts.
4. Contact information as a JPEG – When I’m flying through a site and want to contact you, it’s SO frustrating to highlight your email address only to discover it’s an image. You’re then counting on my frazzled mind to correctly remember and type your email address.
5. Profile picture from your wedding – Unless you are a wedding planner or your business has to do with weddings, I really can’t think of you as a business lady if you’re in your white dress making out with your new husband. (I know I’m going to get bashed for this one but if you’ve been married for five years and are still using that photo, it’s really time to get a new one taken!)
I know this post may make you mad and I’d love to hear your objections! But remember, I look at over 30 creative business sites a day and I know the ones that are bringing in the money. Yes, it may be hard for you to take down Johnny Cash’s, ‘Ring of Fire,’or your flashy GIF contact information image. Keep in mind though that your site’s purpose is to show potential customers that you are a real business!
So take a long look at your site and see how many of these 5 things are lurking there. Then kick them off and fill their spots with clean, in-bound links and professional photos!
{Featured image via Pink Tentacle}
I could not agree more! I love browsing other people’s handmade websites, but sometimes I do have to wonder.
I would also like to suggest the removal of any animated gifs that aren’t related to your business. I’m not sure little cats that run across the screen are really what buyers associate with professionalism.
🙂
I completely forgot about those! Yes! I absolutely agree! Get those running cats and fish to feed off! 🙂
I love your recommendations 😉 and fortunately for us, we do not have any of the taboo items listed ;-).
Yay! I’m glad you liked the article. 🙂
100% agree about the music! It drives me nuts when I go to a webpage and then have to try and find out where the (usually very annoying) music is coming from.
And I have been wondering about those blogger awards things especially since they seem to be you get nominated and then you nominate 15 other people and they automatically all get to be winners, kinda makes the whole thing pointless!
The one thing I will dare to disagree with it the links to other sites, I do tend to use links, both to my other sites and to other peoples, because I think it’s good to have something more on my blog then just hey look at me I made some jewellery today. I do limit it though and there is usually some sort of link to my shop or it’s a friends product who will also be giving me a shout out.
I think you’re limiting your links and ads in a nice way. As long as I don’t have to scroll down for 5 minutes to get to the bottom of your sidebar, it’s a good thing. Hehe. 🙂
Grand stuff, thanks 🙂
Music on business sites makes me want to put a spoon in my eye. Am I being dramatic? Yes. But I’m on your site to browse your wares, not rock out to Hootie & The Blowfish. *Totally dating myself*
I know! If I had a normal, office job, I’d certainly be fired for having music randomly blare out of my computer.
Great advise! I completely agree. Thanks.
You’re welcome!
Great list, Megan! I think it could be especially useful for people who started their sites as a hobby, but have now evolved into businesses.
Since I work with website text, I also have to add: remove broken links (there are so many!) and typos. You don’t want to lose a sale because the link to your shopping cart doesn’t work.
Yes! I forgot about that one! It always drives me nuts. I’m glad you liked the post!
Great post Megan!
Totally agree, and building on Olivia’s excellent point.
Fonts! Pleeeeeease! Keep it uniform, and so that I can read the information you’re trying to convey..ugh!
Less is more…
So tempted to put Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire on my blog now.
Noooo!!!!! Haha.
I’m not a fan of music of flash! 🙂
Hey there Megan! Must say a well written and informative article. There only one thing that I have to personally disagree with is #4!
The main reason is that I hate spam in my emails and I know that there are “spam bots” lurking in the shadows looking for email addresses to add to their list of people to torment! So on that note, that is why my contact info is in a image. If I understand “bots” can’t read images!
Anyway just my opinion…
You’re right there. However, you could also write it as myemail (at) something (dot) com. That way I can still copy and paste it and do a simple delete.
Good point!
Thanks for responding.
Great topic, Megan. I would add ultra-cheesy stock photos to #5. Though they’re sometimes hard to avoid (especially on a business site), pics of overly enthusiastic corporate-types with creepy smiles, or giving awkward high-fives, don’t make me want to buy your product more.
I would tend to disagree with your thoughts on outgoing links. If you’re linking to useful, relevant content that enhances your customer’s experience, I say go for it. You make a very important (and overlooked) point about remembering to link to your own content, too.
I think I can tick most of the boxes, other than the external links. I have links to groups that I am a member of (and if I have a member’s page, it links to that), but on my blog (and I will admit, I’ve just started blogging), I do tend to link to people / companies that have helped me, or I’ve taken inspiration from. I just make sure all external links have Target=”blank” on each tag so it gives people the option to see other info, but return to mine easily.
Dear Magen,
I love that I am OK with the 5..Thank you so much! I now know what not to do…I am not computer savvy..I have still not figured out how to put words on my shop banner…I am thinking I can do it for free.. I have worked hard on my shop and I am still not getting a lot of traffic..I am opened to suggestions…I am feeling a little exposed by asking…But I know I need some pointers…I am up for it! So if you could take some time looking at my shop…I would greatly appreciate it!
Thank you so much
Mary Beth
Hi Mary Beth,
Just taking a quick peek through your shop I’d say 2 things. 1. You offer the customer too many choices. If people are bombarded by choices of size, what comes with it, etc. and then have to contact you for shipping, they will opt to skip the purchase. Think if you go to an ice cream shop and have 50 flavors to choose from, then have to choose from 25 sauces, and then have to ask how much the cone costs. It’s too many steps. Instead I would just put down a flat shipping price and then tell them it’s custom so you’ll make it to fit their jar size. 2. I’d love to see more photos of your jars in action and also with some lighter colors in the background. Your front page has lots of tans and beige and there’s nothing that immediately pops off the page making me want to click it. By changing up the background color, it will differentiate between your items.
I hope that helps!
~ Megan
Thank you Megan! For taking the time to check my shop! I will work on all that you said..YES It helped bunches! I appreciate it!
Does that mean the HTML “blink” tag is out?
Hi Megan
Thanks for this great article! I read it when it first landed in my inbox and then just read it again. I totally agree with all your points. Except that I do put links in my blog every friday for a web link round-up. I do it mainly to build a sense of community to show the things that I look at. Now I think that I might be sending traffic out of my site. What do you think?
Erin
That’s perfect! You should definitely have links in your blog posts, especially to previous posts or pages on your site. External links in your blog posts will up your Google ranking as long as they are meaningful and make sense for your post. I think building a sense of community is wonderful.
Take off exclaimation marks and the word unique.
Great post, beautifully writen (no exclaimation mark!) HaHa
Thank you for the tips. I’m going to make some improvements today.
Really useful stuff here, does that mean slideshows are out of favour on the home page?
As long as there is no sound, I actually like slideshows. That’s also assuming your photos draw people in to your site. 🙂
liked your article and i’d like to add one thing here- the pop ups are one more things which keeps the readers away
AHAHAHAHA! No.5 is yes… awfull { Profile picture from your wedding } XD
well.. i put music only for my homepage.. because my homepage is.. dramatical 😀
Good Article. Makes sense with all the points. Thanks 🙂
#4 is sensible because email addresses are scraped and sold (still). Better to leave your Twitter (social media) account for people to contact you there. Or, have a contact form linked in your navbar.