Are people visiting your web site but not buying? This may be a sign and time to do some redesign of your web site. Often you are so close to what you have created, that you can’t see obvious design mistakes. I often do same when writing an article – everything looks fine when I have finished, yet when I review it next day and I’m amazed at how many mistakes I have made.

Let’s look at some of most common Web Design mistakes:

1.Sloppy Web Site Copy – your heading and first paragraph should clearly indicate purpose of your web site. “Content is King” on Net, so make sure there is plenty of focused information for your visitors. The content should draw visitor through site to take action in end. Include contact information on every page in case people have questions.

2.Bad Color Coordination – avoid using dark text on a dark background. Use dark text on a light background, such as black on white. Use colors that blend well together – observe nature or look at paintings to get some idea of good color combinations.

3.Pages Load Too Slowly – using too many images or inserting large images on a web page, slow down loading time of your web page. Optimize your images (reduce their size) before you insert them on your site, otherwise your visitors will leave before your site is loaded.

4.Poor Navigation – this means visitors can’t easily find information. They experience broken links, error pages or discover too many moving objects (animations, flash, scrolling text, marquees) – all these will annoy visitor and cause him to click elsewhere. Keep your navigation simple by creating clear links on all web pages.

5.Orphan Pages – these are pages other than your homepage, where visitor has no idea how it fits in with overall structure of your web site. You should always have a link to homepage, so visitors know where they are on your web site.

Irritating.

Aggravating.

Sometimes, I just gave up and went home without it.

Well, today that bully is still following me around. Only now, he's changed shapes and multiplied. 21st century bullies are all web designers who dangle their information just beyond my reach and won't let me "get it."

Let me give you a few examples.

BULLY #1: I recently stumbled upon an absolutely gorgeous website. You could tell a lot of thought had gone into its lush design: an Egyptian theme throughout; rich earth tones; 3D-effect wallpaper; jeweltone click buttons. It was everything gods of esthetics prescribe.

But I couldn't figure out what in name of Nefertiti they were selling.

The home page had no menu and gave no hint where to click to proceed inside. I moused around until I finally found c-spot which took me to a second page that also had no menu and no information. I clicked again. And again. This painfully slow- loading site forced me to click four times before it coughed up some product information. Yawn.

GRADE SCHOOL LESSON: If your visitors are still groping around in dark after two or three clicks, they'll go home without their caps.

BULLY #2: Even pros screw up sometimes. Here's story of how a major airline bullies its online visitors.

I dropped in to their website recently with two objectives: to get flight information; and to learn about their frequent user program. Well, I got my flight information, no problem. But here's what happened when I tried to get a basic explanation of their rewards program: