Characteristics of the Most Annoying Web Sites

by Michael Ellis (02/06/2006)

So you've spent weeks carefully piecing together your online business plans and now you're finally ready to go online, and you totally kill the entire process by haphazardly throwing together a website that only succeeds at chasing your visitors away. In other words, you created an annoying web site.

It's true; a sure fast way to cripple your online sales is to insert some annoying design elements into your web site. The content could be well written and very enticing, but if the web site is just plain old annoying, then potential customers are much more likely to leave and not look back.

Let's briefly go over 6 characteristics that could turn your business web site into an annoying web site. Here's a list some of the most annoying web site characteristics. I bet you can recall some of these elements in some of the websites you've recently visited.

#1 Useless Doorway Pages (also known as Gateway pages)

Have you ever gone to a website to find yourself sitting through several seconds of annoying animation before being presented with an 'Enter' link? If so, then you were a victim of an annoying doorway page.

The goal of these annoying web pages is to impress the visitor with flashy graphics to give off the impression that the company is important, high-tech, etc. Unfortunately, most visitors quickly leave the site long before the doorway page finishes its presentation.

Stay away from these pages - they are sales killers!

#2 The Under Construction Guy

That little construction guy digging away was cool back in the early 90's, but it's about as cool today as disco is to my 12 year old niece!

Only post content to your site that is complete.

However, disco is still cool! ;)

#3 Littered with Pop-up Windows

This one is one of the most annoying to me. How many times have you gone to a website to get bombarded with numerous windows popping up all over the place? I bet too often! It's hard for me to believe that people actually try to sell products from these types of web sites. When I find myself on one of these types of sites and see four new browser windows open, I immediately start closing the pages and looking for the exit.

Remember... people are generally fine with one popup window, but having more than one will certainly test the nerves of your potential customer.

#4 Links that don't work

It's not good to have any broken links on your site. They give off the impression that you are not taking the web site seriously. Make sure to use a good link checking program to find broken links on your site before your customer does.

A good link checker can be found in VictoryKey Internet Marketing Resources

#5 Clashing Colors

Can you see this???

What about this???

 

 

Some colors don't work well with others. As you can see from the above example, blue backgrounds and red text don't work well together, nor do yellow backgrounds and white text. There are a bunch of other combinations that result in the same eye-straining effect.

These combinations of color will likely give your customers a headache. Try to use colors that are easy on the eyes. You can test your color combinations by using the 'Pick Your Website Colors' link in VictoryKey Internet Marketing Resources

#6 Too Much Flash

Ever see a really nice car ruined by adding too many fancy bells and whistles? I have. I found that it's mostly the younger crowd that's behind these types of transformations. The majority of people just want a car to be a car. There's no need to have it jump up and down, have a stereo that can be heard 3 blocks away or have a Play Station built into the back seat.

Ok enough about cars… but the same can be said for websites. There are a lot of flashy elements that can be added to a website, and some might think they're pretty nifty looking, but the average web site visitor just wants good information that's easy to read and easy to navigate through.

There's just really no need for:

Crazy Looking Separation Bars & Bullets: i.e. lightning bolt separator bars, or huge dollar sign bullets, etc.

Blinking or Scrolling Text / Animated Graphics: These will only result in making the rest of your site less readable.

Audio: Web site audio that starts when a user loads the web site, without any knowledge of the user, is plain old annoying. Typically, if a user was interested in your content, but not in listening to what your web site is playing, they will just leave.

Webpage Transition Effects: Ok, these guys are REALLY annoying. The popular fade-in / fade-out effect where the web page slowly becoming visible on loading, then slowly disappearing on exit, is a site killer. The first time someone goes to your website and sees this effect they will probably think it's cool, however, after sitting through 5 page transitions that same visitor will likely be driven crazy.

Ok… there are six annoying characteristics to keep out of your business web site. Remember; stick with simplicity and ease of use when designing your web site. That way your site won't be remembered as one of the most annoying web sites.

Note: some of the most successful web sites have had rather simple, non-flashy designs. Google.com and Craigslist.com are great examples.

Author - Michael Ellis (Email: michael@victorykey.com)

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