Top Website Annoyances

Have you ever gone to a site and knew right away that you did not want to be there even when the site has the content you were looking for. The following are the top website annoyances:

1. Broken Links

Broken links is a timeless website annoyance that will probably never go away, whether this is because the link leads to no where or it is not up to date or the server is down . One way for all websites to make sure that links on their pages are valid is using a link checker.

2. Over Done Advertisement

All websites can benefit from generating more advertisement dollars, but the reality is no one wants to be on a site that bombards them with advertisement. An extra ad on a site can also drown out the content which may, in fact lower the value of your site. Some website owners even state that lowering the number of advertisements actually increases the advertisement dollars.

3. Slow Loading Sites

There are several reasons why sites load slowly. Ironically, one explanation shows that it can actually be a good problem to have for website owners. It could mean that the web site is experiencing heavy traffic which is what all websites want. Other reasons for slow service is heavy traffic from another site on a shared server, or possibly the total size of the content on the page is just too much. The key for slow loading sites is to minimize any large files on the site, lowering the resolution on your images, change your advertising image banners to text banners or switch to a dedicated server hosting package package to help relieve the wait time.

4. Unwelcome Music

We're not talking about someones personal or music artist website, we're talking about the furniture site, the recreation site or even the web hosting site that sounds blaring music with no way to turn it off but to close the browser. A soft intro tone can be welcoming but don't over do it with loud music but if need be then at least add an obvious way to turn it off.

5. No Contact Information

Have you ever found a mistake on a site, had an issue with a site or even wanted to compliment the site but cannot find a way to contact the web site owner? Add an email link or another means to contact someone on your site.

6. Forms With No Memory

Ok so I forgot to put in my postal code, but does that necessarily mean that I have to fill in absolutely everything again? "Good-bye site, I have better things to do then to fill in a bunch of forms that I already filled in, in some cases two or three times!" Make sure your forms are user friendly by NOT making users have to fill in their information again and again.

Summary

Some things on websites can be very annoying to users, but most of them are very easy to fix and avoid.

Posted on April 25, 2008