Annoying Your Website's Visitors: Not as Good an Idea as it Seems

Someone may still think that disabling the 'back' button on browsers is a great way of keeping visitors on your website. If you don't own your own business, your manager may think so, or have equally daft ideas: that you have to execute.

Which is one reason why I'm glad to be self-employed.

Trapping viewers isn't covered in either of the two posts I discussed in another blog. Annoying ads, pop-ups, not including external links, and forcing visitors to register are.

So is an issue that I need to stay aware of: "Long posts that are hard to scan." (#7 in the Killing Your Blog?... post.)

Do You Want Website Visitors to Return?

If you don't, go ahead:

• Disable the 'back' button
• Make visitors scroll through two or three screens of advertising clutter before finding the registration link
• Make them register to see your content
• Be sure that the registration takes them through at least two screens, and collects their:
  • Home phone
  • Email
  • Date of birth
  • Postal address
  • Buying preferences

Finally, avoid subheadings, bulleted lists, or anything else that will make skimming easier. Remember: it's your website, and you can do what you want!

Or, you can design a website that someone might want to come back to.

The decision is up to you.

Microreviews from Apathetic Lemming of the North:

• "Website Design: Just Because Everybody Else is Doing it - - -"
  (February 4, 2009)
• "Killing Your Blog? Could Be "
  (February 4, 2009)

The microreviewed posts:

• "5 Sickening Habits of Mainstream Websites"
  TechCult (November 11, 2008)
• "10 Mistakes That Could Be Killing Your Blog"
  Write to Done (November 12, 2008)