Are you losing customers because of a poor website design? A slow-loading site can mean web shoppers give up - meaning shoppers are likely to abandon a website if it takes longer than four seconds to load, a survey suggests.

The research by Akamai revealed users’ dwindling patience with websites that take time to show up.

It found 75% of the 1,058 people asked would not return to websites that took longer than four seconds to load.

The time it took a site to appear on screen came second to high prices and shipping costs in the list of shoppers’ pet-hates, the research revealed.

Akamai consulted those who shop regularly online to find out what they like and dislike about e-tailing sites. About half of mature net-shoppers - who have been buying online for more than two years or who spend more than $1,500 (?788) a year online - ranked page-loading time as a priority.

It found that one-third of those questioned abandon sites that take time to load, are hard to navigate or take too long to handle the checkout process.

The four-second threshold is half the time previous research, conducted during the early days of the web-shopping boom, suggested that shoppers would wait for a site to finish loading.

To make matters worse, the research found that the experience shoppers have on a retail site colours their entire view of the company behind it.

About 30% of those responding said they formed a “negative perception” of a company with a badly put-together site or would tell their family and friends about their experiences.

Further research by Akamai found that almost half of the online stores in the list of the top 500 US shopping sites take longer than the four-second threshold to finish loading.

The survey questioned 1,058 net shoppers during the first six months of 2006. Consultants Jupiter Research did the survey for Akamai.

About the Author

Find out more about accessible web design at Accessibility101, SEO at Hobo, and Internet Marketing at InternetMarketing101.

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1. Fresh, Crisp and Clean Layout

Think Zen. It?s tranquil. It?s balanced. It?s refreshing. Websites employing web 2.0 design is a breath of fresh air to the clutter-styled content of most websites for many years.

Don?t overwhelm your visitors by presenting content in an un-suave way. How many times have we been discouraged to read a website that has too much going on, all at the same time?

Instead, draw visitor?s attention by presenting one meaningful content at a time. It pays to show courtesy. It?s delightful to visitors when you just breeze them through what you want to say rather than shoving everything down their throats.

2. Bright and Cheery Colors

If you haven?t noticed, a cheerful aura has somehow been ushered into the Internet. Web 2.0 sites like Flickr, Odeo, Flock and others have the habit of using bright colors.

Aside from inspiring a playful and happy mood to visitors, use them to draw attention to important elements of the page. Colors also create solid sections to organize content into header, main content, navigation, footer and other parts.

3. Rounded Shapes

The stiff and formal, edgy and techie corporate look is out. In contrast, un-boxed shapes create an atmosphere of friendliness and being-yourself. In addition, the design tends to look creative and youthful.

4. Vectorize and Take Down the Stock Photos

Almost all websites that has a product to offer uses photos of wide-grinning people in corporate jumpsuits. You?ll find fewer and fewer of these photos in Web 2.0 sites nowadays. Some still use stock photos but they are mostly exhilarating views of nature.

Instead use smart vector shapes for icons, logos and web elements as imagery to your site.

5. Readable Text

Gone are the days of the smaller your text, the higher the techno-rating your website would have. Start using large text now. It?s like speaking clearly compared to mumbling your words.

The proper use of typeface size while bolding important parts like headings is like taking your visitors by the hand to guide them on how to read your content. It creates good impression when you make visitors feel that you designed your website for them.

6. Simple and Obvious Navigation

Navigating through your website should be as simple and obvious to a 5 year old. It should clearly show where they are now and where else can they go. Once again use color and text size to emphasize links in your site. Provide clear instructions as well on how to use features and options.

7. Polished

Interfaces of Web 2.0 sites are simply cool. The aesthetic feels just right. Through proper use of gradients, reflection and 3D render you can create web elements that are almost real to the touch and invites visitors to just click.

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