As a business owner creating and managing a website can be difficult. Your expertise is in your business and not graphic design. However, a compelling website is just as important as a business manager. With the Christmas approaching, you'll want to be sure that visitors are captivated by your site because they have a limited attention span.

While holiday shopping, or preparing their own businesses for the holidays, the chances are that your visitor has a lot on their mind already, just like you! To ease their navigation issues, it is important to eliminate pesky site characteristics.

As a web design company, we urge you to consult with us with any of your web design issues. If two of these items are applicable to your site, we insist you call.

1. The site is not responsive.

If a website is not responsive visitors will have trouble viewing and searching for information. Text and photos that are designed for a desktop site appear small and difficult to read on a smartphone. Or, worst-case scenario, smartphone visitors will have to scroll up and down AND left to right - this can be frustrating.

Responsiveness is not a new concept. For years users have browsed the web using devices such as smartphones, laptops, and tablets. In fact, in November of 2016, mobile browsing surpassed desktop browsing.

2. Contact information is replaced with a form.

Did you experience an outage after hurricanes Matthew or Irma? If so, then you understand why it is irritating when a company doesn’t have their phone number and email address readily available on their website. Basically, it is only acceptable for Florida Power and Lights to hide their contact information from their customers.

Old City Web Services Contact Page is a good example to follow - it includes contact information and a contact form.

3. An irrelevant About Page.

As soon as a visitor lands on a site several things should be apparent to them, for example, the company mission. At this point, if there is any confusion on what services, products, or advice the company provides visitors will navigate to the About Page. If the About Page is still unclear and has a ton of script that doesn’t describe what the business is selling, providing, or producing the visitor will move on to the competitor's website.

An About page shouldn't be boring, but it should be informative.

4. Pages with too little text or too much text.

Website content should be balanced. If each page has a few sentences on it visitors won’t stick around long enough to get a full grasp of your product. In the same sense, visitors are unlikely to read an enormous block of text. Break up large blocks of text with headings and subheadings and combine pages that have only a few sentences of text.

5. Too many Popups.

Advertising and call to actions are important site characteristics and depending on the business, they are non-negotiable. However, if popups are stopping users from navigating to different pages or straight up pesky, chances are they will opt-out of a site faster then they opt-out of spam emails.

6. Information is hard to find.

Websites should not resemble mazes - but sometimes they do. Information for visitors needs to be plentiful and well-placed. Large blocks of content, missing details, or missing prices will only frustrate site users and lead them elsewhere. For example, if you are a historic inn or bed and breakfast then your website should include prices, amenities, and the location of your business. Focus on which aspects are most important for your potential customers and be sure to add it to the website.

7. It is messy.

Websites that are eyesores are less likely to engage visitors for long periods of time. Eyesores can include different font styles, mismatched color combinations, blurry or too many photos and random placement of photos. This may seem petty, but if a website is tacky chances are so is the product.

When in contact with your customers or the public, it is extremely important to provide quality customer service.  A friendly, courteous disposition goes a long way.  That includes answering the phone with a smile on your face; it can be heard in the tone of your voice.  Put the shoe on the other foot and treat your customers the way you would want to be treated.

Mission Statement

Our mission at Old City Web Services is to navigate the world of web design, web development, and advertising for our clients so that they can focus on what they do best – running their business! Our business intentions go beyond the metrics of graphics, coding, and SEO. Located on Florida’s First Coast, we run a personable home front service and consider our relationship with our clients as a partnership in their success. If you are looking to increase your business’ visibility give us a call at 904-867-4112 or contact us today.

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