I wrote a 2-part on this very topic back in 2002 and ‘Where Am I’ and ‘What does this site do’ definately on my list.

Of course while I’m glad to see I’m in good company, I’m sad to see that 5 years later, the Church online still hasn’t fully realized the message.

Sometimes, I arrive at sites not knowing what to expect and when I leave, I still don’t know what I was supposed to expect! To use your words, I leave without having learned where I was or what that site could do.

That’s one of my biggest pet peeves: how rarely websites tell what they do. My second pet peeve is not being able to find where they are or any way to contact them so that I CAN learn more! When I do find anything, it is usually only an email address and it’s justy not worth the time to write them and wait around for a response so I just go quietly away.

If I can add one more suggestion for websites, it is to think about what to put in the title bar. Some sites forget to change it and/or keep all pages the same. Others only use their meta tags. What they don’t think of is that when people choose to bookmark their page, the title bar’s verbiage is what is saved and all that will remind them of where they were before and want to go back to. Most web surfers don’t know how to change it or even that it can be changed so web designers should be sure that it doesn’t just say, “Welcome!” or “About Us” or even worse, “Index”! Eeek!

I enjoy your blogs and appreciate the chance to give you feedback, too! I only have a free website with the accompanying restrictions right now. My target audience is new and inexperienced computer users. I’m mostly a wanna-be web designer who can’t figure out what software she wants to use and therefore, which online class to take.

The ourchurch.com website I created was for a little church in my town that doesn’t even have a regular phone number. I had such a hard time finding them and even though I don’t attend there, I decided to create a page for them. They are a good church with nice people and I wanted to help others who, like myself, might try to find them online. In order to create their site, I used the information from their Sunday bulletin and visitors packet.

Mike, you are so right in this following quote. We still have a dial-up connection, and are fairly patient, but will not wait even several minutes for a page to load. Then, if it has lots of flashing, jumping, moving items, unless we are highly interested we may not stay-too confusing.

Quote: “As a rule of thumb, I recommend that you do not use Flash or a splash page. These kind of features are neat and impressive, if done correctly, but can slow down the load time of a website. Also, try to keep any logo images small enough so it does not slow those visitors that maybe on a dial-up connection. You have to remember that first impressions happen very quickly, so a fast load time is crucial!”

We’ve testified previously that we used OCC 12 Steps to a Successful Website and we highly recommend working through them. HarvestMinistry.us is, we think, very attractive and user-friendly; people stay and read what God has shown us and what He has said to us, by His grace.

In less than half a second, your website can form a lasting impression to a visitor. They can choose to remain on your site or click that big “Back” button on their web browser. In today’s blog, I would like to share with you two of the most impo…