Sporadic Essays - Give Your Ham Radio Website A Reality Check

                        
                            Feb. 2008
                          
                            Give Your Ham Radio Website A "Reality Check"
                          
                          I visit Ham Radio website every day. I do this as just one way of keeping my "finger on the pulse" of Amateur Radio. Here's a few of the things that catch my attention as I make the rounds.
                        
                          Pop Up Ads - I took the trouble to visit your web site, and all you want to do is assault me with the flying gizmos. I do expect to see advertising on all but the most "personal" of websites. If I want my favorite sites to be around when I visit, then I realize that the webmaster MUST engage in some form of revenue generation. What I hate is when I just start to read an item, an ad slides across, or down, the screen and blocks my view. If I'm forced to "close" the ad, I'll usually just close the entire page and go elsewhere. As a webmaster I know that just about whatever information I have on my site, you can probably find the it at other sites. Because of this, and because I'm just a nice guy, I'm going to do my best not to aggravate you while you visit.
                        
                          Mile-Long Web Address (URL) - I know you've seen them: www.get-your-free-web-page.com/users/members/hobby/home.html. Wouldn't it be better to spend from $10 to $25 and get your own domain name AND a whole year of hosting? Doesn't www.callsign.com look a lot better than that garbage above? Not to mention the pop-up ads you, and even more important, your visitors will have to endure as the price of accepting free hosting! Of course, pop-up ads aren't the only price you pay. You look like a homeless Ham Club when you put your home page on one of these free sites. If you can get free hosting with a respectable, short web address, and no pop-up ads, then by all means, go for it. But be mindful of the image you project.
                        
                          Centered Text - Only the most inexperienced of webmasters use centered text for anything but titles. If whole paragraphs are centered on your site, get some free web design instruction online and try it again. I don't think anyone would want to read centered text on a printed document, so I think it applies to web pages too.
                        
                          Content Management - A lot of Ham Radio sites use "content management" scripts for their websites. Examples of these are "Joomla", "Mambo", and others. These look great. The only problem is that they, with few exceptions, make your site look like every other Joomla or Mambo site. If you are not a great web designer, why don't you cheat like me and use a program like Web Studio, or others, that let you drag & drop your way to a great-looking website that doesn't look like everyone else's?
                        
                          Not Really A Home Page - I get to your home page and there's a button that say's "Enter". Enter to where? I typed your web address into my browser, hit "go", so I should be there! If I turned up my volume I'd probably hear a drum roll. 
                        
                          Flash Animations - If you have nothing to say, use Flash! If you design Flash animations for a living, by all means show them off. If you don't, don't. This ties in with the "Not Really A Home Page" above. I'm not going to suffer through a Flash "Intro" just to see your hamfest photos. You had better have some "critical, need-to-know information" (to partially quote Bert Gummer in Tremors II, Aftershocks) that I already know is on your website, or I'm history.
                        
                          Music - Unless your website is directly related to music, then please spare us. Music fits right in there with religion and politics. How could you possibly know what kind of music I like, and whether or not I'm even in the mood for it. In my opinion, this is one of the most horrible mistakes a webmaster can make. If you're going to have music on your site, at least give me a choice on listening or not and do not do have it "autoplay" on page-opening.
                        
                          Guest Book - Too "touchy-feely". Do you really need that "pat on the back"? Want to feel good about your web site? Load it up with good information and then wait for people to take the time to send you a real compliment by e-mail. A guest book is too easy, therefore less meaningful.
                        
                          No New Content - If your website looks like it did a month ago, there's no need for me to come back because I've already seen it! This is THE FASTEST route to the death of your website. I try to add something new to my Amateur Radio website every day. If I miss a day or two, I try to make up for it when I return.
                        
                          Link Farms - This is one of the most common features I see on Ham radio websites. For some unknown reason, hams feel that their purpose in life, as far as the web goes, is to be your stepping stone to other web sites. To get any meaningful traffic at all takes time, energy and money! If you're not expending time, energy and money, then you're not getting meaningful traffic, so I suppose it doesn't matter if you're a link farm. But, if you took the time to place an ad for your site, or if you took the time to properly list it with search engines, why would you want to support dozens of other "freeloaders" who won't even thank you for doing their job for them. Now, I must admit that I am biased here. For me, Ham Radio is a hobby, but my web sites are definitely not. If your website is strictly for fun, then don't worry about it. Can I put my link on your site?
                        
                        73, WF5TX