Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/1195821
34 • JANUARY 2020 • WORLD FENCE NEWS 5 Website Features That May Be Working Against You BY MOLLY YURICK Contrary to popular belief, your website is not about the products you sell, the services you provide, or the information you share. It's actually about the people who visit it and their needs. As a website owner, your job is to turn those visitors into paying cli- ents. But before you can do that, you have to keep visitors on your website for long enough to pique their interest. And that means not scaring off your prospects with features that are annoying or—even worse—that could make you look unprofessional. With all the web-design elements available today, it's easy to lose sight of what will work best for your target audience. However, once you shift your focus to serving your visitors instead of your own needs, avoiding these features becomes much easier. Here are five website features that may be working against you: 1) Aggressive pop-ups: Pop-ups come in all shapes and sizes. Some are intended to persuade visitors to inter- act with your call-to-action ("Sign up for our newsletter" or "Take our sur- vey"), while others are paid advertise- ments to bring in some extra income. But, let's be honest, pop-ups are quite bothersome, especially if they appear repeatedly. Expect to lose vis- itors if they have to spend more time closing pop-up windows than explor- ing your content. If you feel you need to include pop-ups on your site, make sure you do your homework, place them well, and use them wisely. 2) Translation plug-in: Translat- ing your website into other languag- es is a smart busi- ness move if you are looking to ex- pand international- ly. It makes your products or services available to more people in more plac- es and may very well increase your sales and online success. While it may seem like a trans- lation plug-in or machine translation service will save you time and money, think twice before taking action. Machine translation systems are great at getting the gist of a text, but often skew the meaning. For example, in some languages, a popular machine translation tool "Whether you are a freelancer or you own a multi-million- dollar company, all you have to remember is this: make your website for them, not for you. translated "U.S. President" as "Bush" well into the Obama administration. To avoid embarrassing mistakes that scare off global customers, make sure you hire a professional translator who can perfectly craft your message for your audiences abroad. 3) Autoplay video: It's happened to every Internet surfer out there. They arrive at a new website and an unfamiliar voice or loud music blasts through their speakers. They frantically stop the video, rub their sore ears, shake their fist at the screen and close the tab. Video may be all the rage right now, but the secret lies in knowing how to use it ef- fectively. Autoplay videos—whether for informational purposes or to bring in revenue from advertisers—are annoy- ing and will often push visitors away from your site. If you plan on using video on your website, add a promi- nent play button instead of having it autoplay. Let users decide whether they want to watch the video instead of deciding for them. 4) A dysfunctional mobile ver- sion of your website: Mobile Internet usage now surpasses computer usage. This means that you must have a mo- bile-friendly version of your website that maintains all the same key func- tions as the desktop version. If visitors do not have a positive experience when they land on your mobile site, you may drive away a huge portion of potential traffic. So, make sure your website is responsive. Responsive websites include all the same content and information on any device used to access them, but the display changes automatical- ly based on the size of the viewer's screen. 5) Infinite-scrolling home page: Infinite scrolling is a design technique in which content continuously popu- lates at the bottom of the screen as the user scrolls down the page. This tech- nique can be very effective for certain types of sites, but for most, an infinite- ly long home page can be distracting and confusing. It increases load time, makes nav- continued on page 52 Gates. Hardware. Turnstiles. Controls. 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