Web Coach Tip: Top 10 Deadly Web Site Design and copy errors

1. Do not fill your website with a lot of high tech clutter. The visitors will miss your whole sales message and bail.

2. Do not use unnecessary words or phrases. Sentences should be no more than 10 words. You have only so much time to get the visitor's attention and interest, make every word count.

3. Do not make the mistake that all fully understand your what you have to offer. Obvious! Use strong words and examples to get your point across.

4. Do not write your strong point or benefit only once. You should repeat at least 3 times because some people do not understand right away. (How many times you tell your kids to clean their room ... 5-6-7 times?)

5. Do not push all your words together on your website. People like to browse, use a lot of titles and sub titles. Bold key phrases to make your copy of "scan-able"

6. Do not use the contents of the public preferred not care if people are coming to your site to find information on knitting does not include the content of calcium.

7. Do not use 20 different sizes throughout the website. Use the same fonts, text size and colors, etc. If a site looks "complicated" to read, your perspective is sure to save.

8. Do not use words your visitors might not understand. People are not going to stop and look in a dictionary, they will just go to another site. (If my 11 year old daughter can not "get" the concept of my copy, I start over)

9. Do not let selling words and phrases go unnoticed. Highlight important words and phrases with color, bold, italic, underline, etc.

10. Do not forget to use words that create emotion. (Woohoo!) People will have more interest when they are emotionally attached.

Donna Payne ......