Many businesses remain caught in the dark with how to approach their website strategy. They either don't know the industry standards, can't find the time, or don't have the resources. But that's no excuse. Businesses need to look at their website as their home. Maintaining a clean, polished home is a must to succeed in the digital age. Here are a few things NOT to do:
1. More than Three Sentences to a Paragraph
It's a grammar don't. But a website do. Toss Strunk & White temporarily to the curb. And mix it up.
Don't get me wrong. Cultivating great writing is a must. But some rules are meant to be broken.
People visit websites to learn or be entertained. Not to read a book [tweet this!]
Make reading easier by breaking the “three sentences to a paragraph” rule. Easily-digestible content is shareable content. And it won't strain the eyes.
2. No Photos
All text, no pics? Makes dull content. Break up the monotony of text by throwing in photos. My favorite photo sharing tool is Instagram.
It can help:
1) Take charge of content strategy.
3) When you need pretty pics in blog posts.
3. Use flash
Some of my clients want a social media strategy with a flash-based website.
Would you invite people to a party and not let them in the door?Â
This is essentially what you're doing with flash. Mobile will dominate the future of media and advertising. And even if you have the most amazing content, people can't access it if it's built on flash.
Even though we can now convert Flash to HTML (by using toolkits such as Adobe's Wallaby), it's not always the magic bullet. And why make it more difficult than it needs to be?
Consider moving to a mobile-friendly platform, such as WordPress.
Need help with a website redesign or content strategy? Check out my content marketing package.
What are other rules to break on websites? Please comment below.