I spend some of my time online reviewing websites for JoeAnt. The majority of the sites I look at are nice - clean and easy to navigate. A few sites are outstanding and a few are virtually worthless - either through poor design or lack of content.
Among the ones that make up the majority there are some that do one of two things that is really beginning to bug me. Both occur on business sites. The first is when the site announces that they deliver/sell/provide a service nationwide...only you have to search to find what nation it is.
The second is one I see with local businesses that are trying to attract new customers in their area. At least I would have thought that is what the site was for but I'm not sure when they make it difficult to find what the address of the business is. There was one recently that didn't even have the location on the "contact" page. I can't remember now where I finally found it but I remember spending more time than I should have had to finding it.
If you provide a product or service to a specific area, whether it's a city or a country, this information should be obvious to anyone viewing the site. Even if you don't have the full address on the opening page, at least refer to the area you serve in the text on that page. This not only will make your site more viewer-friendly but will also help people who are using search engines to find a product/service in a particular area more likely to find you.
Posted by marybeth at March 22, 2007 02:11 AM Internet