You took the leap. You set up a website to display your important message. Bravo! As in life, first impressions are important on the web. Web researchers found that you have about 2 minutes to make that first impression a good one. Visitors will judge your site in those few seconds on its professionalism and appropriateness to what they are looking for.

In fact, a website can lose about one-third of its potential customers due to poor design, according to a recent user study conducted by some professionals.

Take a long hard look at your site. Or ask a friend to give you a brutally honest review of your site. Does it pass the test of professionalism?

Are the graphics of good quality and clear? Is the formatting, font size and font colors consistent throughout the site? Or does your site commit design mistakes that speak amateur as soon as it loads?

There are some common mistakes website owners make that may cause visitors to leave early. What are these?

They post "Under Construction" signs all over the site.

Under Construction signs posted all over the website spell unprofessional in a big way. Seasoned site owners understand the power of patience. They know that timing the launch of your completed website is much more effective than doing it prematurely.

Be patient. Wait until the website is complete before publicizing your site. Doing it this way, your visitors will be impressed and gain trust faster. They won't feel uneasy and run away because they see amateur stamped all over your site with each Under Construction sign.

Some place brightly colored counters on every page as a badge of honor.

The truth is most everyone knows counters can be set to whatever number you like. If you don't want to start your counter at zero, you can easily start it at 10,000. It raises a red flag of questions. Therefore, it may repel your visitors faster than it attracts them. Why raise the red flag of questions, if you don't have to.

Look at your in-depth statistics instead if you need to analyze your traffic.

Some websites do not use copyright statements.

Some uniformed site owners don't know that their copyright is effective the moment their creative work is set in a fixed form. So they fail to put their stamp of ownership on their work.

If you truly own your work, claim it. Post your copyright information at the bottom of every page.

First impressions are important on the web. Follow the simple design techniques above and stop turning your visitors away at the door. Use your first few seconds to impress your visitors with simple design that delivers your powerful message effectively

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About the author:

Florie Lyn Masarate got the flair for reading and writing when she got her first subscription of the school newsletter in kindergarten. She had her first article published on that same newsletter in the third grade.