5 Things About Your Website that will send Jane Screaming in Frustration
July 26, 2005
Whoa! Is that a title, or what? Jane couldn't help it. We're letting off steam.
Here are the 5 things that will send Jane (and every other woman) screaming in frustration, and, consequently, not get you any sales: (as written about in W3reports)
1. Pop-up ads. We know, you're saying, "Duh!" Everyone hates pop-ups. Well, women hate them more. We hate them so much...we'll scare the children with a blood-curdling scream and...not only leave your site, but never return. Chances are, according to a Hostway survey, that more than half of us will tell friends -- and you will lose more than our business.
2. Another big no-no: dead links! Are you saying, "duh!" again? That's okay. A lot of small businesses forget to check links. Links that lead to other sites, or articles, or surveys, which are out of date, cause women to wonder how well you will take care of them, when you're not taking care of your business.
3. Flash, and slow-loading pages. Puh-lease, how many times do we have to say it? If it takes longer than 5-7 seconds (some folks say 3-5 seconds) for a page to download...we are outta there! Women are too busy to wait for those fancy graphics or your multimedia flash show. Jane is forever surprised at sites aimed directly at women who use flash openings. Why? Why? Why? We aren't there to watch a flick...
4. Bad web design. Now, Jane explained in our book what good web design is -- and it isn't something you get at OfficeMax. Color choice, navigation, graphics, and ease of use are what make a good website. If your only presence is a blog, make it attractive but useful. And don't ask for too much personal information...which leads to #5.
5. Requiring a log-in. Jane can attest to this...we HATE having to log-in before getting what we want at your site. Content sites are known for this -- and we understand why (it costs money to pay those writers!) -- but, make enough of your site free to make our visit worthwhile, please! Allow us access to your catalog, or your references page, or one week's articles, before you require a log-in. We'll give you that information, if you make it worth our while.
And that's it. Today is a busy day...Jane is off to prepare for Blogher!
What's not to like about that?
You know why we hate all of these things? It is because we don't have the time to waste. Why wait for a page to load, or a flash presentation to play... (and don't get me started with broken links and out-of date pages) -- We have dinner to cook, we have to drive the car pool, we have to run our businesses and head that charity committee. We go to the web to find info, to be validated, to better ourselves, get the news and to buy product. I need to do this fast, because the lasagna is burning, the baby has a dirty diaper, my VOIP is on the fritz, my company just IPOed and the NASDAQ just dropped.
And you want me to click on a pop-up for herbal viagra??
-Meg
Posted by: Meghan Wier | July 27, 2005 at 07:41 PM
Jane-Quit making fun of my site! I'm trusting you to fix it :)
Posted by: Steve Mertz | July 27, 2005 at 06:18 PM
Interesting point, Eric. Comment spam is not a problem I lose sleep over. Even when it was mucking up my blog. I just hit the delete button and...poof! it's gone.
Your observation is a valid one. I, too, get surly when asked to register to comment on a blog -- and only do so if I have time (who has time?) But, I can understand the reasoning.
I would never turn off comments. The comment area is well worth the trouble. I wish Typepad had the option to type in numbers and letters from a graphic image -- to prove you're a real person. The comment spammer's software spider can't see those letters and numbers, so...the blog writer knows the comment is legitimate.
I'm curious: what does Movable Type do that's so much better than what Typepad does? You seem in the know. Can you explain to me? Thanks!
Posted by: Yvonne DiVita | July 27, 2005 at 08:44 AM
Registering to comment on blogs is the worst. I know there's comment spam, but it defeats the spirit of blogs. Yes, I want your input, but only if I get to vet you.
I'll trackback to one of those pages, but unless I can skip the registration, I won't comment.
Personally, I'd rather the people just turned off comments. This is one case where the middle ground is worse than both of the alternatives.
Not that I enjoy comment spam (although I apparently survived today with no new attacks from online casinos), but it's the price we pay for publishing. And then there's Movable Type 3.2, which has a Bayesian spam filter, which should make things a lot easier.
I hope...
Posted by: Eric Sohn | July 26, 2005 at 10:54 PM