“Run away! Run away!” (I’m picturing Monty Python and a deranged rabbit as I’m writing this post. And horrible body odor. Should be a fun one.)
Certain things repel me in real life. Halitosis. Obnoxious laughter. Speedos. Online, it really is no different. It may be harder to pinpoint them, but there are definitely…things. And I want to be sure that I’m not doing any of them.
- A website with exclamation points all over it. Hire me now! See what cool-daddio-product can do for you! Save 50 cents on your next order! Tell your friends! If someone has to make their stuff look exciting by adding a bunch of exclamation points, it probably isn’t exciting enough to begin with.
- A website that is all about the company. Show me a website that is all about a person, product, or service, and I will show you a website that is not living up to even a 10th of its potential. How bored do I have to be to listen to some company talk about themselves page after page after page? Very. Nothing could make me run away faster.
- People who hawk stuff all over Facebook. I was in deep conversation with my unconsumed-by-the-internet friends, and I was shocked to hear the extent that they were offended by friends proselytizing their products and services on Facebook. All 8 of them seemed to think that it was all well and good for Twitter (which they perceive as more for business), but apparently they don’t go on Facebook to hear their friends advertising to them.
- Self-proclaimed “social media experts” who have exactly 10 Twitter followers. It’s kind of like having toilet paper on your shoe. Except you put it there.
- Sites filled with corporate cliches. They might as well replace every cliche on the site with a blank space — it has about the same effect. Our eyes gloss over things like “We’re a cut above the competition.” “World class service” might as well mean “We couldn’t think of any compelling reason why you should hire us.”
I could go on for the rest of both of our lives, but I’d rather hear from you — what makes you run in the opposite (online) direction?
6 Comments
Great list!1!11!!!!! <– haha.
It really grinds me gears when;
-website headers don’t redirect to the index page
-finding contact info (address/email/telephone) is like searching for a needle in a haystack AND THEN when you finally find it, it’s a stupid form.
Those are really my main two :]
But they screamed “Run away!” so many times in that movie! (You know, with the rabbit, that monster in the cave, the French guards throwing random things such as cows, sheep, and the Trojan horse.) Man, I love Monty Python.
Self-proclaimed “social media experts†who have exactly 10 Twitter followers. Haha, yeah. So many of those follow me on Twitter and I never follow back.
@Liz Oh yes…those darned website headers. Hadn’t even thought of that one. What, you’re not in love with the beloved contact form? Whatever do you mean?!
@Kelvin That *was* a great movie. I haven’t watched it in about 5 years though. Just goes to show how deprived I’ve actually been. And as for the social media experts, I just have to imagine that maybe they’re the rockstars of myspace or something. Not that myspace counts.
Agree with yours. Most of mine focus on legibility:
Dark (insert color of choice) font on top of light (same color of choice) or on top of an image. Really, really hard to read if you are over 40. It’s probably really hard if you’re under forty too, but the web didn’t exist when this was me so I’m not sure.
Using 8 point type for anything that you want read. 12 point should be the minimum. Small fonts are hard to read when you are over 40. I won’t go on about this again.
Requiring the visitor to read the great American novel/great chucks of type in order to understand what you are trying to say.
Not using subheads to facilitate scanning. Visitors will scan so you might as well make it easy.
Placing the main content / CTA / main point below the fold.
I’m sure I could think of some more but the kid needs to be driven somewhere.
I can add to your list websites which with terrible music palying while it loads ant the sites which are overburden with flash.
Love it, James. You’re right on point. And the music in the background…priceless. The flashy-flash music-y junk just keeps me what I really want — information.