CelebrityOn.comroad to become a web celebrity

There are billions and billions of websites floating in the big bad world of internet, but only a handful of them are successful. Do you know why? They are successful, because they care for their visitors. Making a successful website is a long term process, but you have to start from somewhere. If you have a website then the first thing you should do is to make your website well accessible to your visitors. You want your visitors to stay at your website as long as possible without getting distracted, but having a bad design can turn off your visitors easily. There are many websites which have good contents, but they lack good designs. Bad website designs can make your site to fail easily even if you have high-quality content. You do not have to spend thousands of dollars to make your website top-notch in design, but changing simple design elements can make wonders. There are many design elements which you should avoid when developing your website to make it more user-friendly.

1. Background Music: I found some websites still playing background music when someone accesses them. Playing background music was very old style and makes no sense nowadays unless your site is music related. Having background music significantly increases the loading time of a webpage and makes user irritated. Also, remember that there are many users who still use dial-up connections and they might find your website too slow.

2. Flashing Banners: I am sure you have seen those flashing banners that tell you are the 1000th visitor and won some cash! Users get extremely annoyed with this type of flashing banners or ads. An average internet user knows that these are fake ads. Visitors also find problems in reading your content if they are surrounded by some flashing banners. These are absolutely no-no for a user-friendly website.

3. Annoying Background Colors: Designing website is an art by itself and not everyone is good at it. If you are not good with color schemes then you should consult a professional. Having bad color scheme and background design puts a user stay off your site. Use some colors that are good for eyes and not just something that shines.

4. Popup and Popunder: You are visiting a website and suddenly a window pops up in front of you or pops down below your webpage – these are called popups and popunders. These are the things which annoy the visitor most. I always close them and never read what’s inside them. I also get extremely annoyed with them and I’m sure everyone just hates them. Avoid those sneaky little things if you want your visitor to stay at your website.

5. Too Many Ads: Advertisements are good if you use them properly. There is a fine line between too few ads and too many ads in a website. Try to balance yourself and use as less amount of ads as possible in a website. The last thing a user want in a website is to see that the content is surrounded by ads. Having 1-2 ads in a page is ok, but bombarding your user with 10 advertisements in a webpage is not good for your website.

6. Slow Connection: The faster your website loads the happier your visitors. Try to uses less JavaScript, Ajax, Flash, or other design elements that slows the loading speed of your webpage. Also, having a dedicated server allows your website to load faster than those shared-hosting servers. Try to keep your website as clean as possible so that the pages load faster to make your users very happy.

7. Broken Links: If a user finds a broken link in your website they may just leave thinking the website is not working. You have to keep checking all the pages and find if there is any broken link. These are not good for your visitors. Making a well-accessible website should be your first priority.

8. Long Texts: Your content should be well structured with proper paragraphs. Visitors would get annoyed if they have to read a long block of text. Use breaks in between your content to keep the interest alive for your readers. Also use a proper text size; having too small or too large font makes your website ugly or inaccessible to certain users.

9. Poor Content: Everything aside, your website should provide good content to your users else they would never come back to your website. Write contents that your users love to read and they must also be unique and just not copied from other websites or books. Having your own content makes your website stronger in long run.

10. Bad Navigation: Your website structure should allow a user to access all parts of your website smoothly without any problem. A user gets annoyed when they are searching for something but do not know how to get that. Having proper navigation and search function helps your user to find contents that they are searching easily.

These are some common design elements which you should consider when developing a website. Remember, a website is successful when it has a long list of happy readers, so it is your responsibility to make them happy while keeping your interests alive. There is no short-cut for success and every webmaster should work hard continuously to make their websites successful.