Is your website annoying?
Have you ever considered that your website may be annoying? When it’s comes to website design, knowing what visitors hate most is a must, unless you don’t want them to visit you again.
Many webmasters, especially new webmasters are totally “in love” with their ideas and tend to go overboard with their design in one way or another. It’s nice to have an attractive header, but is it really necessary to assault the visitor’s mind with it? No way!
Business owners and webmasters sometimes forget that their website should send a message to the visitor that should reflect the website topic and not the programmer’s skill level.
Is Your Website Design Annoying?
Well…. It’s not that hard to be annoying. However, some webmasters are much better than others at annoying their visitors. Here is a list of annoying no-no’s to avoid
- Background music – Unless you are operating an online internet radio station or sell music CDs, do not play a midi/wav file in the background continuously on every page! Especially one with no OFF button!
- Huge font size – If you are designing a website for people with a disability then you are doing the right thing, but if not then you are shouting. People don’t like to be shouted at.
- Small font size – Do you want to be heard? Keep a normal tone, don’t shout but “speak” in a reasonable volume. Remember a lot of people are using their mobile phones to read the website so a small font is bad.
- Overlapping layers – Layers can be very useful up to the point. But not when they are being used to put an annoying message in the visitor’s face. Don’t try to force your visitor to read your messages. Try persuasion instead of brute force.
- Popup windows – Even though popup windows are now blocked by many add on tools, webmasters keep using them. The annoying part of popups is sometimes we actually miss important information because of those anti popup tools. Don’t use pop up windows. Put your important messages in a central place on your website.
The list of course is much longer, but I just wanted to bring this important subject your attention.
Some of you are probably reading those lines and smiling while some others have a feeling a deja-vu. Keep in your mind that you are not your customer, so do not annoy them. It’s not a matter of taste, it’s more about being the same polite person we all try to be when we go to a party.
Make sure your webmaster is skilled enough to know this and is professional enough to avoid these things.
If you have an annoying website or know someone who has one, send them this article along with our phone number 07 5571 5779 so we can remedy the situation before you lose too many potential customers!
Steph Zahalka is the founder and CEO of Jungle Branding Co., a premier award-winning brand agency based on the Gold Coast Australia, serving clients across the globe.
Recent winner of the prestigious Female Entrepreneur of the Year Stevie Award 2020, Steph is a brand strategist and designer who has been featured on the cover of a nationally recognised ‘women in business’ magazine (GCGIB) and regularly appears on podcasts and events around the Gold Coast as a speaker, panel expert and interviewee where she reveals her unique process for building a wildly in-demand brand for ambitious entrepreneurs, modern CEOs, influencers, thought leaders, and service-based business owners.
Steph believes that, when done right, branding is the door to connecting with your people, your audience on a deeper level. Human to human connection that makes your audience ridiculously obsessed with not just your brand, but YOU and your vision that ultimately makes a positive impact on the world.
