The Most
Common Web Sins
There are many flat-out
"ugly" websites.
Some estimates are as high as
70% of the web. This
article attempts to identify
some of the more common
problems and give you some
practical guidance to correct
the problems.
Browser Compatibility
Test, test and test again!
Some browsers don’t work
with various web site design
software. As an example, try
to print pages of your website
using Netscape and Internet
Explorer. IE will work, while
Netscape won’t. Hmmm –
this site was developed using
Microsoft FrontPage. Your
website statistics will
indicate the type of browsers
being used as well as the
version.
Color Choice
Black, Red, White – all
carry a negative connotation
in various areas of the world.
Applying color principles
fosters desired audience
response. Warm colors tend to
"move toward you"
while cool colors tend to
"move away from
you." So a designer can
use warm colors for emphasis
and cool colors to minimize
emphasis. Brighter colors
attract our eyes first, and if
overused, can cause visual
confusion. Overusing a bright
color as an accent reduces its
effectiveness.
Emotional responses influence
color considerations, and
differences in color value and
intensity can evoke very
different emotional reactions.
Light red is associated with
cheerfulness, but bright or
dark red can induce
irritability. Light
yellow-green is associated
with freshness and youth, but
the darker shade olive is
associated with drabness and
decay. Light sky blue is
associated with tranquility,
but the deeper value indigo is
associated with depression.
Basically, in North American
mainstream culture, the
following meanings are
signaled by color:
- Red: urgency, passion,
heat, love, blood,
excitement, strength, sex,
passion, speed, danger
- Yellow: warmth,
sunshine, cheer,
happiness, cowardice,
brightness
- Blue: truth, dignity,
power, coolness,
melancholy, heaviness,
trust, reliability,
belonging, coolness
- Orange: playfulness,
warmth, vibrant
- Green: nature, health,
cheerfulness, environment,
money, vegetation, nature,
fresh, cool, growth,
abundance
- Purple: wealth, royalty,
sophistication,
intelligence, royal,
spirituality, dignity
- Pink: soft, sweet,
nurture, security
- Black: sophistication,
elegant, seductive,
mystery, death, rebellion,
strength, evil
- White: purity,
cleanliness, lightness,
emptiness, pure, virginal,
clean, youthful, mild
- Gold: prestige,
expensive · Silver:
prestige, cold, scientific
[List above compiled from http://www.ergogero.com/FAQ/cfaqhome.html
and http://www.keysteps.com/]
Notice how a particular color
may have both a positive and
negative connotation? This
emphasizes the importance of
careful color selection and
coordination. Different
cultures interpret colors
differently, and a savvy Web
designer can avoid
disappointing results and
costly re-works by some
upfront cultural research.
"White is the color of
death in Chinese culture, but
purple represents death in
Brazil.
Yellow is sacred to the
Chinese, but signified sadness
in Greece and jealousy in
France. In North America,
green is typically associated
with jealousy. People from
tropical countries respond
most favorably to warm colors,
people from northern climate
prefer the cooler colors"
according to Keysteps. [http://www.keysteps.com/]
Imagine the negative first
impressions made by selecting
a culturally offensive site
color scheme. That's only one
example of why it's time
well-spent considering how
color choices support a site's
message, its target audience
preferences and demographics.
Abstracted from
"Principles of Color
Scheme in Web Design",
Maura "Chip" Yost.
Communications Access
Your website is only as
good as it is in facilitating
contact between you and your
customer. Errors have
included:
- Including only an 800
phone number when most
have no international
functionality
- Failure to include an
area code and / or
extension.
- Failure to list your
business hours and to
adequately staff your
phones during that period
of time.
- Allowing an automated
phone system to take
international calls and
alienate your potential
customer.
- Using forms exclusively
instead of email links.
Font Choice
Please keep in mind that
the majority of the world
doesn’t have 20-20 vision.
Avoid using less than 12 pitch
fonts. Even then, a 12-pitch
font coupled with the wrong
type selection and color
choice will make your site
illegible.
White Space – A clean
website with adequate white
space can better identify what
you’re trying to say. As an
example you’re trying to say
"Distributors
Sought" with inadequate
white space where you could
say the same thing in a
different spacing arrangement:
"Distributors
Sought"
The font’s the same, the
message is the same, but the
visual impact is priceless.
Listing Your Distributors
There are two schools of
thought to this topic:
- Listing your
distributors is an open
invitation for your
competition to steal your
distribution. If you
actively and aggressively
support your distribution
channels, this is
unlikely. Likewise,
this possibility cuts both
ways and may help you to
expand your distribution
as well.
- Not listing your
distributors may cause
confusion within your
marketing organization as
to who has responsibility
for which parts of the
world. It also slows
follow-up to prospective
customers.
Make Your Site Work for
You
If you’ve just spent a
significant amount of time and
resources in making your web
presence known, why not make
your web site work for you?
Before you can make your site
work for you, you need to
determine the type of
information you’re seeking
to gather. We suggest that you
"get away" from the
office and try to determine
the attributes of your best
representative, distributor,
reseller, VAR or whatever
channel remarketer that you
use. Using these attributes as
an international qualification
questionnaire, you can now
move to the next step. Using
"White Space" as we
previously discussed, post a
prominent notice indicating
that you are seeking
international agents or
distributors linking that
announcement to your
qualification questionnaire.
Assuming that your site
visitor completes your
questionnaire, it tells you a
significant amount about your
prospective distributor:
- Product lines
- Sales Volume
- Bank Reference
- Trade References
- Technical skill sets
- Professional credentials
- Number of employees
- Number of service
personnel
- Familiarity with English
I think that you’re
getting the idea. Depending
upon the detail of your
questionnaire, you can both
qualify prospects as well as
simultaneously screening
respondents. For additional
information, please read our
companion article: Package
39.
Market Your Site
So, you’re on the WWW!
Now what? Web statisticians
indicate that the best search
engines such as Alltheweb (http://www.alltheweb.com)
and Google (http://www.google.com)
index only 15-20% of the WWW.
A former client who does 20%
of his business on the WWW,
spends 5-10 hours weekly
reviewing his website
statistics, targeting
advertising and tweaking
browser listings.
This leaves a lot of room for
error, or should I say your
competition. Web tools or
services that you may wish to
use are:
- WWW statistics packages
– this will help you to
know your customer, their
country of origin, search
engine, browser and more.
With this information,
you’re now ready to
carry your website to the
next generation of
localization and
globalization by
translating portions of
your site.
- Banner adds – let’s
say that 20% of you
international leads are
originating in Germany
using Yahoo. That might
warrant consideration of a
banner add to further
promote your product.
- Search Engine
Optimization – There are
both software packages as
well as web service
companies which assist in
optimizing your site with
search engines. Optimizing
means high placement
within the results,
elimination of conflicting
information and more.
Manage Your Site Bandwidth
Demands
The world is not connected
to a high-speed network of
interconnecting T-3 hubs.
Prospective customers may be
charged by their local telcom
for the connect time required
for your state-of-the-art
flash optimized web page to
load. That’s if they already
have downloaded the necessary
browser add-ons. Consider your
page load time in comparison
to the target market
capabilities of your
prospective customers. At a
minimum, show a direct access
option to enter your site
bypassing the flash.
Navigation Bars
Unless there’s a method
to your madness and you’re
getting paid for each one
those mouse clicks on your
site, a good international
site should be no more than
three clicks to whatever your
international visitor is
seeking whether it is sales,
support or your catalog. WWW
studies have indicated that
the average web visitor stays
for less than one minute.
International visitors may
stay a little longer, but
every moment is potentially
more costly than the same
visit by a domestic customer.
Consequentially, accurate and
plentiful navigation bars are
of paramount importance.
Techno Rhetoric
We’ve all heard
"KISS" –
"keep it simple
stupid." Nothing could be
further from the truth in
designing your international
website. Unless the techno
word is absolutely essential
to the successful marketing of
your product, use simple, easy
to understand descriptions
that could be understood by
someone with a fifth grade
reading capability.
Sales Access
The No. 1 reason for your
website internationally is to
attract potential customers.
The alternative to a website
is an intranet which usually
isn’t justified until you
have developed your
distribution / foreign office
network. If you develop a
website, one of your ultimate
objectives is increased sales.
Too many websites fail to
include email links to sales
departments opting instead for
an information request form,
which is often cumbersome and
hard to understand for
international customers.
Albeit an attractive target
for spammers, email links
direct your customers to the
correct party more efficiently
than do request forms. Both
can be included.
Date Updated:
October 04, 2008
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