The Professionally Dressed Home Page

The second deadly mistake of home page design is an unprofessional first image. Remember, just because you make provide home-grown or home-made products or services, doesn’t mean you aren’t professional … and your website should reflect your professionalism.

That said, it doesn’t mean you need a slick and flashy home page or website. You might surprised how professional a clean and simple design can be.

Here are few things to avoid that may make your website look less than professional.

• Wacky domain that has nothing to do with what your business is about. There is something to be said about being clever … but don’t push it.
• Glaring or clashing color scheme. Do you want people to spend time at your website or do you want them to leave so their eyes won’t hurt any more? This doesn’t mean you have to choose dull, lifeless colors … just make sure the go well together and support your brand.
• Cutesy fonts … just because. If your market is kid or parent, then a chalkboard font might be appropriate. But I’ve seen too many websites that use this style of font who are marketing to professionals. This just makes your website look home grown and unprofessional. Your best bet is to stick to standard web fonts and stray only when it strategically serves your purpose.
• Automatic music. If you’re not selling music, why increase the load time of your website with music that will probably leave your visitor scrambling for the “volume off” switch?
• Animated flash. Flash can be a great tool … it used strategically. Search engines can’t index flash, so you aren’t getting and SEO benefit, and flash animation can radically increase load time, too. So only use it when it is strategic or necessary to do so.

Want to know what all five deadly mistakes are? Grab a copy of my new book, Home Sweet Home Page: The 5 Deadly Mistakes Authors, Speakers and Coaches Make with Their Website’s Home Page and How To Fix Them! at www.homesweethomepagebook.com. Stop by the website between March 15 and 19, 2010, to join the launch and housewarming party, and download a plethora of free gifts!