I received an interesting email the other day. A gentleman wrote to say he liked this blog and has been following some of the posts on it. He even used my name in the introduction of the email.

Unfortunately, things went downhill when I clicked the link of the website he sent me to look at. So sad.

Repeat after me: FLASH OPENINGS ARE LAME! Got it? Women do not have time for your silly flash opening to download. This one took upwards of a whole minute. Worse yet, during the waiting time, I had nothing to look at but the bar inching across the screen. Okay, there was yellow "skip" offering, but ... if you have to offer that, it should be an indication that the flash is not necessary. Certainly not one that wastes my time leaving me staring at a big, black window of mostly nothing.

<sigh>

I think, perhaps, these are very nice people and they may even have a good product. I honestly don't know. I finally got into their website (I was being polite; had I chanced upon it from a search, or had someone I know sent it to me, I would have clicked out long before I did), the navigation, the use of prime real estate, the overall look and feel was -- less than appealing. Definitely NOT female-friendly.

Please - if you are marketing to women online, make sure we land on a page that makes it apparent, at a glance, who you are and what you do. Then, offer us easy, simple navigation using words - you may add icons and pictures, but make sure they are accompanied by words. Women do not want to pause and have to guess what that icon means -they want you to tell them. If the LA Car Guy can do it, you can do it, too.

Unfortunately for this website, and its product, the "designers" overruled the marketers (at least, I hope that was the case) and they've created a website that will not sell their product, because it cannot sell their product. Not to women.