Things to Avoid in Your Ecommerce Web Site Design

A Home Business Article Contributed by Elizabeth Fox-Wise

Just As There are Things to Include, There are Also Things to Avoid in Ecommerce Web Site Design

The first thing to never include in your ecommerce web site design is page counters! First of all, using page counters will interfere with the design of your pages. Secondly, the use of them will make you look like an amateur in the eyes of the Internet Savvy. And furthermore, they share information with your customers that you probably do not want them to know. If you want to know how many people have viewed your site, you should be able to get these stats from your Web Hosting Company.

Stay away from blinking or flashing text. The only place we are used to seeing blinking or flashing text is on signs advertising naked girls and live sex. If your ecommerce site is marketing anything besides that, best to stay away from the use of anything blinking or flashing. Additionally, flashing or blinking text can be very distracting for some computer users and force them to leave your site prematurely.

Is There More to Avoid in Ecommerce Web Site Design?

Yes! Avoid confusing page titles. Make sure that the page title is easy for everyone to understand and is indeed a title of whatever is on that page.

Don't force potential customers to have download a special browser or plug ins to view your ecommerce web site. Remember the fear factor. Some beginning computer users will not download new software for fear of compromising their system - so rather - they will go shop somewhere else! Why limit your potential market because you want to use a special feature in a browser or a plug-in such as Flash. Keep your ecommerce web site simple in design and make sure it is compatible with at least Internet Explorer and Netscape Browsers.

Chat rooms! Most customers shopping do not care to go to a chat room. It has been said that the only thing worse for an ecommerce web site than having a chat room is having an empty chat room! Unless your ecommerce web site sells a very unique product to a unique group of people who may need an area to connect with each other, it is best to skip the chat room all together!

Flash Intros - for awhile these were the latest rage in ecommerce web site design. Who knows why we ever thought we needed them. But studies have shown that the "Skip Intro" is the most commonly clicked button on most ecommerce web sites. Do your customers and yourself a favor and skip the flash intro!

What Else Not to do in Ecommerce Web Site Design

Use framesets with extreme caution if you must use them at all. There is really no need to use framesets for 99% of ecommerce web sites. Furthermore, new users tend to have trouble creating and using them properly. Framesets also make websites more complicated than they need to be. Finally, they can cause you all kinds of problems with the search engines. So if you do not know how to work with them (and even if you do! ) they are probably best to avoid.