Nobody shines a more unforgiving light on mistakes in web design than Vincent Flanders’ Web Pages that Suck.  (Let’s call it WPTS.)  It’s crude, it’s rude, and brutally honest.  By drawing a ruthless bead on bad web design ideas, the keys to a good site become evident almost automatically.

People Come To Solve Their Problems. Not Yours

Here is the #1 biggest mistake WPTS drives home: 1. believing people care about you and your website (here’s the article.)

He’s onto something.  How often do you find a business telling you what to think about them?  You’ve seen the claims: “We’re your experts in X Y and Z.”  “Our site’s mission is to promote the best [blah blah blah]…” “Let me show you what I can do for you”

Flanders claims people visit a website to solve one of  4 problems (I’m paraphrasing):

1) to find information

2) to buy or donate

3) to be entertained

4) to join a group

Nowhere do we see this reason: read your promotions. Sure, when you’re searching the Web, you want to find the best products, services and sources.  But you want what’s best in your terms.  Not the seller’s.

Jakob Nielsen is a long time expert on the science of making web sites useful.  In his “Top 10 Mistakes in web Design,” he includes “not answering user’s questions.”

Who do you think you’re talking to?

Check your content. Who is it about?  Who is it for?  If your answer to both isn’t “the customer,” then it’s time for some basic fixes.

5 Questions That Check if you’re about You or Your Customer:

1)    What problem is your customer dealing with?
2)    How do people with this problem describe it?
3)    Where do you use the words in #2 on your website? (“Page Title” must be in your answer.)
4)    Count how many times you say “you” in your web copy.  Now count how many times you say “I” or “we”.  If the “you’s” are fewer, your copy is probably about you, and isn’t engaging your people.
5)    What is the reading level of your copy? If it’s above 8th grade, check out of the ivory tower.  Write for the ground floor.  If people don’t get it, they won’t buy it.  (Check your reading ease here: http://juicystudio.com/services/readability.php)

Your customers are people who want information, a product, to donate, to learn, or join in something.

So that’s what your content and design should deliver. Help.  Answer.  Entertain me. Do what you say you do best.

Care most about giving what your market is looking for.

To fix the biggest mistake in web design, make it brain-dead easy to see you’re all about what your people need.

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