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Four Things NOT
To Do On Your Website
You're the proud
owner of a great business, and you want to tell the world. While that
is a good idea, you need to do it right, or ruin your company's reputation.
In the online world, people don't know you, they know your business.
Follow some basic rules to keep your reputation intact.
1. This is the big
one: DO NOT SPAM! I cannot emphasize this one enough. If you buy an
email list, make sure it is from a reputable company. Some just wander
through the web harvesting email addresses. If the list is too cheap,
it is probably not legitimate. Not only will most just delete your message,
if it even makes it past the spam filter, you may get reported to your
ISP and shut down.
2. Do not place
popup ads all over your site. Popup ads have their place, but use them
with caution. Too many popups are an annoyance. They can be effective,
however, for advertising specials or newsletters.
3. Do not steal
from other sites. Despite popular myth, not everything on the internet
is free from copyright. Assume everything you see is copyrighted unless
the site specifies otherwise. There is a great deal of free material
out there if you just look for it. If you see something you just have
to have for your site, contact the webmaster and ASK. They might just
say yes.
4. Do not forget
to use your spell checker, but even more important, read everything
you have written on your website. Many sites are filled with typos,
not only blatant misspellings, but also mistakes a spell checker will
not catch. Pay attention to what your site says about you. Sloppy mistakes
make for a poor impression.
Stephanie Foster
is the owner of Aspects of Design, where she offers website design,
marketing and writing services at affordable prices. She also publishes
the Aspects of Design Newsletter for small businesses or people just
thinking about starting a business. For more information, visit http://www.aspectsofdesign.com/.
This
article may be redistributed freely, so long as all links and the resource
box at the end are kept intact. For a text version, send a blank email
to badforwebsite@getresponse.com.
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