Six "Dont's" to Consider When Building Your Website

Kristen Ramsburg, a writer for WebHostingSearch, recently and kindly offered this guest editorial to FOB in exchange for a bit of free advertising. :-) Seemed reasonable to me, and the content seems good, so enjoy! (B)

So you've created a website for your business or for personal use. Everything looks great, and you're itching to get the site live. Before you post anything, however, there are some common pitfalls to consider and avoid…

1. Don't copy content without both permission and attribution. No matter how interesting or pertinent you may find the information to be, if you copy it and post it to your own site as-is, you've committed a crime at best and plagiarism at worst.

   If you need to reiterate information that is relevant to your site's topic, use your own words and credit the original source.

   Only use images that are your own, or that are specifically licensed for public use. Make sure to properly cite sources for images. There are ways to deal with plagiarism if you are victimized.

   1. Don't post content without proofreading. Is the "perfect content" you're proud of really perfect? Make sure it is before you go live. Always proofread content, including blog posts, for spelling and grammatical errors, clarity, and ease of reading. Don't let common errors like it's/its and there/their/they're disrupt the flow of your site. Always write your content in an editor with a spelling-check feature, and make sure you use it.

   2. Don't neglect to check your links. Nothing turns visitors off like dead links. Always check your links, even if you think they all lead where you want them to. It is far too easy to mis-type a URL or add an extra symbol to a web address while editing your site. You want your visitors to be able to easily navigate to everything that you link.

   3. Don't hide your navigation links. Make sure that the links to navigate the pages within your site are easy both to find and to read, and that they take visitors where you want them to go. Nobody wants to spend fifteen minutes hunting down information that should be readily available.

   Check your navigation menus. Are they placed in the best locations for ease of access? Do the link titles make sense? Will visitors who are new to your website be able to utilize these links without having to dig for what they want?

   1. Don't leave visitors hanging. If your website is for a business product or service, or simply contains a large amount of information on a specific topic, make sure that you have a way for your visitors to find answers quickly. Like poor navigation, inability to locate information is a big turn-off, especially for visitors who only have one or two quick questions.

   If you feel there is anything on your site that may not be clear enough, be it product- or content-related, write an FAQ page. You may also want to consider adding a search box in a prominent location on the site. This way visitors can find what they're looking for without any hassle, and you won't be stuck answering multiple e-mails dealing with common questions.

   1. Don't skimp on web hosting. You can have the best website in the world, but this means very little without reliable web hosting. You want visitors to be able to see your site! Invest in trusted web hosting with enough space to store your site, and enough bandwidth to support your projected traffic. This way, your site will remain live and available to visitors even in times of heavy use.

These are just a few of the things to consider before your website goes live. Remember, you want your site to be the best it can be so that visitors will keep coming back again and again!

Kirsten Ramsburg is a frustrated journalist and is currently putting all her passion for writing to use as a senior writer for http://www.webhostingsearch.com, a well-respected web hosting guide.