Guest Article: The Ten Web Site Commandments

Posted on September 25, 2006
Filed Under Articles, Web Site Promotion, Web Site ToolBox

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Today’s guest article is from Jim Edwards which covers some
handy tips to follow in the design of your web site. With a
particular emphasis on creating ‘Mini Sites’.

"What makes a good web page?"

People ask me this all the time, though they often encounter
difficulty boiling the question down to so few words.

You, like any serious website operator, want to know how to
create and maintain the best possible website that nets you
the most sales and subscribers.

The following "commandments" represent the ideals towards
which every new or existing website should aspire.

1. Thou Shalt Have Purpose - Clearly define the site’s
purpose and ensure all content, graphics, and text
tightly focus on that purpose.

Discard all extraneous or distracting material and regularly
revisit your site to ensure all changes fit with the
site’s primary purpose.

2. Thou Shalt Be Lightweight - Use only fast-loading
graphics and other elements.

If you must use large graphics use thumbnails and image
slicing to diminish the size of every file to lessen
load times.

Though the majority of surfers now carry high-speed access,
avoid any content that requires the user to download special,
non-standard "plug-ins" to view your content.

3. Thou Shalt Load Fast - Each and every entry page on your
site should weigh in under 50-100KB total, including graphics
and navigation.

Interior pages can run larger, but the "front doors" to
your site should not make surfers wait long to start
interacting with the site.

4. Thou Shalt Not Use False Code - You should only use html
or asp to create your web pages.

Never use java, xml, dhtml or other forms of code that
require a surfer to keep their browser set up "correctly"
to accommodate your page.

Unless you sell to "geeks" and "techno-nerds," this will
only lose you visitors and won’t make you any friends.

5. Thou Shalt Respect the Search Engines - If you want
search engine traffic use whole web pages that don’t
incorporate frames or large amounts of code unrelated
to your content.

Also, if you want search traffic, actively cultivate
linking relationships with related sites and operate
a blog.

6. Love Thy Surfers and Visitors - Design for "last year’s"
technology so surfers using older computers and slower
connections can download your content and use your
site quickly and easily.

Designing for the "bleeding edge" will only cut into
your own profits.

7. Thou Shalt Not Annoy - Use only stationary text and
graphical layout elements.

No Scrolling text, marquees, or large Flash animations
of any kind, including those annoying, full-page Flash
home pages that say "Skip Intro."

This "eye candy" rarely adds to a site’s main purpose
and often causes your visitors to miss something or
leave in frustration.

8. Thou Shalt Not Scroll Sideways - Design your pages
so they never force a visitor to scroll left or right
no matter what the resolution settings on their monitor.

Sites that read "best viewed at 1024 x 768" really say
"look at it my way because I don’t care about your
preferences or limitations."

9. Thou Shalt Stay Consistent - Include a standard
navigational structure on every page.

Though it may mean a serious challenge for the designer,
users should only need to click once to find every major
section of a site.

This includes using standard link colors in all text
links.
Blue: hyperlink;
Purple: visited hyperlink;
Red: active hyperlink.

10. Thou Shalt Cultivate Subscribers - Nothing floods
your website with targeted traffic like sending an
email message to your loyal subscriber base.

Whether for a new product launch, affiliate product
endorsement, or holiday sale, that list represents
your most valuable online business asset.

Make sure your website actively cultivates subscribers
by giving them multiple opportunities to sign up and a
compelling reason or incentive to do so.

Then, make it worth their while to pay attention to you
on a regular basis.

Whether you’re a home-based business owner or CEO of a
billion-dollar e-business empire, these "commandments"
will guide you to eternal ecommerce happiness and prosperity.

Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the
creator of an amazing course that will teach you step-by-step
and click-by-click…"A Quick and Easy Way For YOU to
Painlessly Set Up Your OWN Moneymaking ‘Mini’ Websites…
Without Being a Computer Geek, Buying Expensive Software,
or Paying Outrageous Fees To A Webmaster!"
Click Here => Minisitecreator.com

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