ET Productions logo

Best Web Design Practices
    ET's Home    
  ET's Services  
 Web Presence
   Our Portfolio  
    Contact Us    
            Helpful Tips          
 
Sure it's a Cute Animation, But...
Avoid Under Construction zones.When someone searches for "widgets" they want to look at widgets, not cute, animated under-construction signs. If you're not quite ready to show them what they are looking for, don't post an under construction page. Just keep it on your own hard drive and develop it fully before posting it and links to it. Post links to an under construction sign and you're almost certain to annoy busy, impatient Web surfers. Unless, of course, you sell under construction signs and that's exactly what our harried surfer came to your site to find.
      If aggravating Web surfers isn't enough reason to resist that cute "under construction" look, then consider search engines. Yahoo warns that submitting a site with pages under construction will cause them to not list the site. Other search engines feel the same. They view people using their engine of a search as their "customers". Like any good business, they want to deliver a product (a meaningful list of search results) that pleases their customers. And pointing an information hungry searcher to a coming soon page with no information will not satisfy that searcher. So all search engines punish sites with links to under-construction pages.
      It's perfectly OK to post your business name and contact information on a home page that says "Coming Soon". Let people know how to get in touch before the site is there, and roughly when the site is scheduled to make its debut. But even there, go easy on the animated earth movers and spinning under construction signs.
Back to Design Tips Page.
 
Points to Consider
Main Design-Tips Page.
  bullet Remember that your monitor is not everybody's monitor.  
  bullet Image errors have many aliases.  
  bullet Watch out for disappearing fonts.  
  bullet Remember 3 words, Show and Tell.  
  bullet Avoid needless distractions.  
  bullet Keep formatting in reason.  
  bullet Pardon our construction, or don't.  
  bullet Splash no splash in search engines.  
  bullet SEO gone in a Flash.Turn Sound Down First!  
  bullet Music to my ears may not be music to every ear.  
  bullet Keywords? Start with the contents of Webster's.  
  bullet Don't be a Copy Cat.  
  bullet Do be a Copy Writer, or hire an expert to write good copy.  
  bullet Don't be selfish. Share the Wealth.  
Helpful Tips to Get Your Site Going Fast
  Quick Startup Tips           
  Best Design Practices     
  Cost Control Tips             
  FAQ                                  
  Send-a-Friend                 
  Links                                
Toll Free   800.448.6399
Boston 617.723.3339
Va. Bch. 757.495.2771
Fax 617.723.7557
 
  Page URL: www.etproductions.com/help/construction.html
Copyright © ET! Productions & J. K. Hollomon, Jr., 2001.
Excerpts from original site, © 1998/99. All rights reserved.
Last revision: Sunday, 28-May-2006 18:32:58 PDT		  
 

ET Productions
160 East Berkeley St, Suite 312
Boston, MA 02118
Phones:
Toll Free 800-448-6399
Boston Area 617-723-3339
Fax 617-723-7557

e-mail ETpro@etproductions.com