The Biggest Web Design Mistakes of 2004

Vincent Flanders runs the popular Web Pages That Suck franchise. He recently posted an article which (outside of flogging his books) points out some of the more egregious errors one can make about one’s website. It begins well, with “believing people care about you and your web site”:

Nobody cares about you or your site. Really. What visitors care about is getting their problems solved. Most people visit a web site to solve one or more of the following three problems.

1. They want/need information
2. They want/need to make a purchase/donation.
3. They want/need to be entertained.

Too many organizations believe that a web site is about opening a new marketing channel or getting donations or to promote a brand.

This goes part and parcel with a concept from The One Minute Site (PDF): to your customers, your website is your company.