You can increase your web site traffic significantly with the use of good site design, but you can also decrease it very easily if you are not careful with your site design choices.
Both search engine spiders and search engine users are pretty discriminating when it comes to websites; they know what they like, and they'll come back again if they like it enough. There are a few common website design mistakes that search engine spiders and search engine users dislike, and they should be avoided.
Web Site Design Mistakes To Avoid
- Overuse of bandwidth hogging programs. Using programs such as Flash or Cold Fusion is a great way to enhance your site, yet spiders can potentially choke on sites that have too much of a good thing. The worse case scenario would be that spiders won't know what to do with themselves and will decide to ignore your site completely.
- Lots of load-intense graphics. Spiders need textual content to feed on, so if you want to scare them away, use images and nothing else. Images should be used only when absolutely necessary.
- Design obstacles. Frames are a prime example of design obstacles. Most users don't appreciate frames (especially when they "trap" the user), and spiders can't follow them very well.
- Unclear navigation. Make it as easy as possible for visitors to find what they are looking for on your site. For example, if you place pricing information underneath directions, that's probably not going to be a good user experience.
