What Visitors Like and Dislike (revised)
Here's what Internet users and buyers say they like and dislike.
What Internet visitors like:
* They like pictures without sacrificing speed. A slow web site
will cost you sales. Don't make visitors wait for graphics
they're not interested in. If you want to illustrate your
products with large images, provide thumbnails (small graphics)
and let visitors decide if they want to click on them to view
larger images that take time to load.
* They want easy and logical navigation. Viewers want to find
what they're looking for without having to go through numerous
pages or clicking on numerous links. Use terms for your
navigation buttons and links they will recognize such as Home,
Order, and Contact. Avoid using animation that doesn't tell
anything about the content and takes a long time to load.
Instead, provide plenty of links on your home page, giving an
overview of your web site's content and choices.
* They like being in control and having multiple choices. Give
them choices by providing many links.
* They like sites they can interact with. Web visitors like to
be involved. Offer an ezine they can subscribe to and provide
feedback forms. Bulletin boards (message boards) are a great way
to get repeat traffic and visitor interaction. Involve your
visitors by providing downloads, databases, search features,
contests, quizzes, trivia tests, self-scoring tests, and
animated movies that include interactive elements. Other
interactive web tools include shopping carts, chat rooms, free
classifieds, JavaScript, and search-engine submissions.
* They love content and freebies. Useful, valuable, and
entertaining content gets visitors to your site, engages them,
builds credibility, and converts them into buyers. Valuable
content can include how-to articles, reports, tips, links to
useful resources, and freebies.
* They love customer service and will return to sites that treat
them well.
What Internet visitors dislike:
* They dislike long pages. If you have a long page, break up
your copy into short, easy-to-read sections and use subheadings
to highlight benefits. Break up text with white space, color,
columns, lines, and graphics.
* They dislike drop-down menus. Newbies may not even know how to
use drop-down menus.
* They don't like receiving error messages or their computer
locking up. Be aware of programming errors when using Java or
JavaScript and other features that may crash a user's computer.
* They don't like difficult-to-use web sites. When using
sophisticated features, software, and programming, consider how
people access your features. Test if the typical user can use
your database and pull-down menus.
Follow these tips to make your web site user friendly. Make it
easy for visitors to use your web site and they'll refer your
site to their friends, return often to your site, and buy your
products and services.