In this post, we are going to deal with two areas of web design a lot of people are unsure about: under construction pages and page counters.
Under Construction
Website design is all about ensuring that your website looks good and works as it should, which you can manage through your multi channel ecommerce platform. That means that it is created and designed with the end user – your customer – in mind. As such, you need to think about what you want them to see when they come to your site.
One thing that you probably won’t want them to see is an ‘under construction’ page on your website. If a potential customer has found your site and is keen to look around it, and they come across an under construction page rather than what they really want to see, they will go and they may not come back. This disappointing webpage is something that was used a lot in the past, but that is unnecessary when you think more about it. If your webpage is not ready to be seen, then it shouldn’t be published. Although you will be excited about getting your website out into the public eye, it really should be completely finished before you launch it. If not, you risk alienating potential customers and losing any reputation you may have. An unfinished website with links that go nowhere, or pages that tell the visitor they are under construction, are seen by many as unprofessional. Instead of rushing to get your website up, it is better to take the time to ensure that it is exactly as you want it to be. Make it perfect to start with and you will save a lot of time and money, as you won’t have to keep going back to fix it all.
Are Page Counters Necessary?
Website design experts can take your idea of what you want and need in a website and make it a reality. And if the idea isn’t going to work, or is unnecessary, your professional web designer will be able to tell you so, and even suggest alternatives.
In the past, page counters were a popular addition to many websites, and web design would place them on homepages. However, modern thinking suggests that not only are these devices unnecessary, but they could even be hurting your business. A page counter – whether placed by an amateur or by a professional – gives you information about how many people are visiting that particular webpage. The most basic types offer no more information than that, although there are more sophisticated versions that can tell you how long someone stayed on your page, and even which pages they entered and exited on. The problem is that they are not invisible – they are there for all to see. This is not the fault of you or your web design — it’s just how page counters work. If the numbers are high, then it is not so much of an issue, but if the numbers are low, perhaps because you have only just started, or you haven’t done much advertising yet, then do you really want everyone to see that? Your competition might well be checking your webpage out, and you don’t want to be giving away your secrets to them either. Instead, your service provider should be able to give you this information via analytics so that you don’t have to display it to the public.
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