Absolutely do not use frames for navigation purposes. There are too many people out there who still use old model computers; they usually will block the frames when navigating sites, because it makes it faster. If all your navigation directions are based on frames, then these prospective customers will skip your site. And frames make for a frustrating experience when trying to navigate back through a site when you’re using the back button in the browser. Don’t frustrate your customers!
Do not use pictures on the site that are too large in file size. They make the loading very slow. Use the JPEG compressor I wrote about above to fix this problem.
Relating to the above two points, don’t use a splash page as an ‘introduction’ to your site. People rarely watch them, and there’s nothing worse than having to click again to get to the actual site – especially if you’re on dial up. And a lot of people are. And even people that aren’t on dial up usually don’t waste their time looking at pretty splash screens.
As much as possible don’t have special software requirements to showcase your products. People do not usually like to download some new software just to browse your site. They would rather go elsewhere. The key to successful ecommerce is making it as easy as possible for your potential customers to find out about your products, and to buy them. Having special software requirements will mean you lose a lot of people.
