How not to?

I have written on this topic before, but this time, it is going to be more interesting. These are most common mistakes people do while designing a web-site. The content is inspired from Digit.

Clutter is good.
Never believe me(or anyone else) when I say this. Clutter can easily kill a good idea. Always remember, simplicity is the most effective way of getting a point across. Place too much links, ads and pictures on your site, and people will have no choice but to find another site. Visit Rediff to see what I am talking about.

Popups are also good.
Again, do not believe anyone who says this. Do not think about pop-ups unless you are designing a porn site(which you should not). Just bring your imagination, and now well, just imagine, you are reading this blog and at once from nowhere, a popup offering something free appears. Won’t you be irritated? Most people are! After 2 or 3 instances like this, will you ever come back? Of course, no one will come even if I put best content. And these days, browsers block pop-ups efficiently, so it becomes a pointless exercise anyway. A nice example would be Indiatimes. Just see how much ads they have.

Horizontal Scrolling.
Users are so habitual of scrolling vertically(if they were not, you would have horizontal wheels on mouse!) that horizontal scrolling seems very rare, except for large pictures. So, site should be optimized for at least 800 x 600 or 1024 x 768.

Four Second Rule.
If one cannot figure out what the site is about within four seconds of looking at loaded web page, the site has failed to make an impression on the user. Make sure that the content has primary focus on your site.

That’s it for this time. Here are some useful sites that give you a great point to start web designing:

• Web Design Library


• Web Developer’s Handbook


• Use IT

Bye.

So, the post continues. I was talking about becoming a "bad" blogger.

Do not be a part of community.
Community is most important in blogosphere. If you are not known, how will people know about your blog. Build your reputation. You should start surfing other blogs and posting comments(meaningful ones). However, do not leave comments like "Please visit my blog at..." . They are not considered good. Writers may even delete them.

Do not link to others.
Google’s spiders love links. Spider,for those who don’t know, are bots which search your page. Then an algorithm called "Pagerank" determines where your site will be displayed on search page. They love links. It is simple, more links you have, more informative will be your page. However, be aware of dead links.

Use abusive language.
One mistake that most new bloggers do is that they take blog as an uncensored medium to write anything. They are write, it is uncensored. But being abusive is totally a different thing. This shows that as a new blogger, you can get so much abusive to build traffic. This also has same impact as abusive comments.

That’s all for this time, Bye.

Bloggers are plenty to be found in blogosphere. Only some of them are good. And rest, they come and go. Want to get in their league? Read on to find how to get free membership of "Bad Bloggers Club" :

1. Expect heavy traffic from the word go.
Once you start blogging, expect heavy traffic for your blog. If you do not find it within 7 days, leave updating the blog and start another one. Repeat to earn reputation as "Bad Blogger". Actually the thing is that you have to be prepared for no traffic at all for first two or three months. Keep improving your writing skills and post regularly. This will help you to get a loyal reader base. However if you do not get expected traffic within 3 months, do not be impatient and keep posting. But if you are not able to get traffic even after 6 months, seriously consider changing topic or writing style.

2. Use lot of popup banners and ads.
If you are considering to earn money from your blog, then it is fine to have some(remember, only some) text and picture ads. But popups are a strict no-no. No one likes to be slammed on face when he trying to concentrate. Popups only decrease your readership.

3. Copy Content.
Original content is always good option for any blog. But for some reason, if you have to copy some article, ask the blogger first. Even if you are given permission, say thanks and link back to his blog. However, original content is always good.

Did you like this new style or was the old one better? Tell me through comments.
These tips are not complete, more tomorrow.