A LITTLE ADVICE from THE MAC LADY

 I am a web designer, and an internet junkie and I have a few pet peeves
that need purging...

TIPS FOR YOUR WEB SITE
If you are a "real" company with "real" products and "real" people,
please put your address and phone number on your site (usually on a
contact page is best). Afterall, you put your address and phone number
in your city's phone book don't you? You put this information on your
business card too, don't you? Think of your cyber presence the same way
you do with your earth presence. Most people will be more comfortable
ordering from a company that doesn't appear to be hiding behind the
anonymity of the internet. An address may not be as important as a phone
number as some businesses are home businesses and safety concerns may be
an issue.

Please let your visitors know right up front - before they fill out
forms - that your offer is good only in the USA (or wherever). As well,
let your visitors know what currency your prices are in. This is
especially important to Canadian visitors who are burdened with the
"dollar that isn't worth a dollar". And speaking of forms.... please
check them to make sure they work properly. Make sure you have enough
characters allotted to all fields so that the user can correctly input a
postal code or zip code, province or state etc. - And, if I spend a lot
of time filling out your form, I expect the SUBMIT button to work! If
you are using java for your forms, please check that it is compatible
for both Netscape and Explorer.

TIPS ON EMAIL
I get letters all the time from people claiming to have visited my web
site, and then they go on to say that they have a great offer that is a
perfect fit with my site.... Hmmmm... I don't think my dog Harpo (who
has his own email address) is really interested in selling Golf Clubs!!
I have about 50 email addresses and the "harvesters" have a picnic when
they get to my site! So my DELETE key gets a vigorous workout!
And please - this is a MUST - have an easy REMOVAL system in place.
Asking me to call a long distance number is not appropriate. Instead,
have a special email address for removals. If you are not sending SPAM
you won't be overwhelmed with removals... and if you are sending SPAM,
then you deserve to have your mailbox filled to the brim!

TIPS ON SOFTWARE
Please, please, please.... put the system requirements right up front!
I'm a MAC user and nothing is more frustrating and disappointing to
actually start downloading a great piece of software only to find out it
is for a PC! And if you're not developing your software for MAC... just
take a look at Apple's quarterly report - you'll see that Macs are
gaining in popularlity. If you don't build it - someone else will!

IF YOU'RE SELLING SOMETHING
Get a real email account.... and a real web site - a professional one
with your own domain name. I'd be more inclined to take you seriously if
you take your business seriously.

SPELL CHECK
No one is perfect.... but at least take a few minutes to proofread your
work... after all, if you claim to provide a great product or service
and you have typos in your emails or web site.... well, it just blows
your credibility as a professional. The biggest culprits I see are....
you / yours, their here

COMPATIBILITY
Please check your pages in Netscape and Explorer! Tables work
differently in each browser - incorrect coding can make your site
virtually invisible in Netscape! And those CSS stylesheets with the very
small type... sometimes I can't even see the "l"s on a Mac in Netscape
and the type is so small that it is impossible to read. Please test your
site on both platforms and with both browsers.

I hope that the information above will inspire you to check out your web
sites and make any changes that may be necessary. We can all make the
web a better place!

About the Author

The Mac Lady - Nancy O. Johnson - Vancouver, BC Canada
"Oh, what a wicked web I weave...."
Web Design / Web Hosting
INTERNET: http://www.the-mac-lady.com / EMAIL:
mailto:maclady@the-mac-lady.com

 Nancy O. Johnson

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