Savvy Affiliate

1) Don’t Break The Back Button - Above all, keep the back button intact.  There is almost nothing more annoying than going to a site and finding that you can’t navigate out of it.  I never go back to sites that have broken back buttons

2) If You Use A Spam Catcher, Make It Readable -If you are using a spam catcher on your comments, i.e. a JPG that people can read but software can’t, make sure that people can actually read it.  If it is too complicated you will anger your users as they try and fail two or three times to enter the correct page.

3) Don’t Play Music- Don’t play music on your webpage.  People come to your site to read the content, or even to look at the pictures.  Sites which suddenly play music are annoying and can potentially get the user in trouble if they are at work

4) Don’t Resize the Window - Your visitor should be able to control where the browser window is and what size they want it to be.  Don’t mess with it

5) Don’t Use Pop Ups - First it is very annoying to visitors.  Second there are many toolbars which automatically block the pop ups, so you will anger your visitor and they won’t even see your ad

6) Open Links in The Same Window - Don’t try to trick users into staying on your page by opening the links in a new window.  If they want to open links in a new tab or a new window, they can right click and do it themselves.  The default link option should always be opening in the same window.

7) Make Your Navigation Simple - Make sure that your user can get to anywhere on your site with a minimum of clicks.  All your navigation should be displayed on every page

Don’t Use Intros- Don’t your webpage load with a flash intro.  People didn’t come to your site to look at intros, they came to look at your content

9) Don’t Require Sign Up - Don’t make people sign up on your page to read your content.  Additionally, unless you get mass amounts of spam comments, don’t make people sign in to leave a comment.  I already have too many user names and passwords to remember.  I don’t need another one on your site.

10) Check Your Color Scheme -  Get a couple people whose opinions you trust too look at your site and comment on your color scheme.  Does it give them a headache?   If it does, then it will probably do the same for the rest of your visitors.  Use more toned down colors whenever possible.