I ‘Stumble’ a lot. I’m one of the very early members of Stumble Upon so have been to thousands
of sites.

Connected to this is the fact that somehow I am on the mailing list of sites that sound good but aren’t. By this I mean they seem to have great articles but the Way the Sites are organised is a detriment.

So if you are developing a Website, unless you have a gun to your head don’t do these things.

Pop Ups

I don’t know who created these, and I’m sure in the 80s they were ‘Ooh!’ ‘Ahhh!’ Today they are ‘Blahh’ ‘Ick!’ This is because their main value is annoyance.

The first time you see one you’ll probably read it. The 34th time, you’ll hit the X to close it without reading it. And if you have very little patience, you’ll close the site.

Yes, if you are selling something and want to use the pop up as a ‘click’ to purchase, fine. But other than that, it often distracts and is not pleasing. If you have pop ups, check how quickly they are closed, and if you find within a few seconds, you know they are being slapped away as mosquitos.

Ten Pages When One Will Do

Many sites to Capitalise on Ad revenue will break up an article. So that if it is ‘Ten Foods Not to Eat’ it takes Ten pages, each food on it’s own page surrounded by Ads.

Many viewers won’t be clicking ten times.

Misguiding

You click on one thing, and up comes another. On occasion, semi-porn or one of those obnoxious earn money from home ads.

You may have clicked on; ‘continue reading’ expecting to go to the rest of the article, but….

I am sure the majority of people who are reading an article and are misguided to the Ad stop reading the article and may, depending on how annoyed they are, avoid the site from then on.