Website Do’s and Don’ts

by Ira McMahon

Some of the scariest websites I’ve ever seen come from great, forward-charging people that start their websites and never look back. They never look back to actually think about this digital monster that they have created and keep feeding with more shiny objects, abominable pages of endless text, and advertisements so deep you can’t even remember what website you’re on. One of best and worst things about the Internet is that you can create whatever you want and however much you want of it. All for free. It’s very easy to get out of control and off track.

Here are a few things to remember, whether you’re a seasoned website owner or are just creating a website now.
Common mistakes of a website
1. Stop me when these start to ring a bell. KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid; Less is more; Just because you can doesn’t mean you should… The list goes on and on, and nowhere does it apply more than the Internet. There are literally billions of websites out there today. There are thousands (at least!) of opera portfolios. Don’t waste anyone’s time. Just because your web guy can create a flash intro, it does not mean that he should. A 15 second intro is enough to make people leave your site. Keep it simple!

2. Edit, edit, edit. It sounds obvious. It sounds easy. It still is not always done. Have someone read over your website (or many people!) If you write your content in an editor that doesn’t check spelling or grammar, try to check it in a program that does anyways. Simple mistakes and typos hurt your credibility. You wouldn’t find them on a resume, would you?

Of course, edit yourself as well. Your portfolio is basically your business website. Be professional.

3. Advertisements. They have their place. It is definitely not on a portfolio website. You will NOT earn money from ads on your portfolio. The only thing that they will do there is lose you money because they portray the wrong image. They can severely hurt the design of your website and be misleading in that you are trying to make money of the people that you want to support you.

What you should do with a website
The principles of a good website are very straightforward and simple. Unfortunately these are the things that are most often overlooked (ahem, you may even be guilty.) When you read through these principles, go through each aspect of your website and make sure it follows the rules. If it doesn’t, rethink it. Maybe it has to go.

Who is your target audience?
Your friends are not your target audience. Your spouse or future spouse is not your target audience. Who then, is your target audience? You tell me. Is it a graduate school? Is your website there for your auditions?

Focus on your target audience. For example, say I have a website that has been created to complement my auditions. My audience is going to be sifting through a lot of other websites just like mine, hoping to find something that will help them make the decision. The last thing that I want to do is make it hard for them to find my distinguishing traits and the performances that put me above the rest.

Now, I’m not saying jam it down their throat by making it blink in five different places. Choose your content wisely so that your navigation (which is very easy to find) only has about five links. Then make the important links crystal clear, don’t use any creative terms or phrases that you’ve made up.

Design is important
If someone sees an old ugly website that is hard to use, they will assume that you don’t care enough to invest in yourself. With design, the number one priority is to have an up-to-date, easy-to-use website. The next priority is to incorporate your website design into your branding plan. If at all possible, use similar colors, fonts and designs in your website and print materials. Hopefully your business card can look like an extension of your website. Keep your design simple and recognizable.

Content is King
While design is important, content is king. Not only do you need to focus your content on your primary audience, but you need to focus your content. What that means is pick what is important. Imagine that a visitor is going to be on your site for five minutes (in reality it’s probably more like two or three.) How do you relate what you need to in that small amount of time?

The first thing to do is to prioritize. Maybe you don’t need to order your performances chronologically. Maybe they should be ordered from most outstanding to least. Same with everything else. Your video page should have your most stunning performance first. If you have a professional video of one performance and a stumbling handheld video shot from left field of another, put the professional video first. Consider not putting in the handheld video at all if you have enough video already because the shaky video can convey a bad message. As with websites, everything should be made to show that you care. As a sidenote, I’m not saying you have to hire a professional. $20 can get you a perfectly good monopod or tripod for your digital camera that will allow your viewer to focus on the performance instead of their new-found seasickness.

The same goes for writing content, like an about page. Have you ever read a news story where you didn’t get everything you need to know in the first three paragraphs? Probably not. This is because newspapers know that they only have a brief amount of your time. If they still have you after three paragraphs, they can go into smaller and smaller details until you know enough. Chances are good that your audience, like newspaper readers, doesn’t have all the time in the world. Consider crafting your wordier pages to be quickly read with the most important information at the top.

Finally, be brief and to the point. Before you do something, ask yourself, “Will it help?” “Will it make for a better experience?” If you can answer yes, you’re on the right track.
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Ira McMahon spent the last few years in Denver building websites for companies such as the University of Denver, Malenke | Barnhart and the Integer Group. Last year, he decided to quit the corporate world, move up to the mountains of Breckenridge and start his own company building small websites. Please feel free to get in touch and chat about any website or branding questions you might have. He’s always happy to point you in the right direction. Ira can be reached at ira@tangwebstudio.com or through Tang Web Studio at tangwebstudio.com.