As 2007 comes to a close, it’s time to reflect on the past year’s accomplishments — and mistakes — and resolve not to make the same ones twice. Here’s my list of Top Ten Web Design Mistakes — mistakes I hope I’m never caught making.

1. Splash or Landing Pages. This is at the top of the list of annoying web design elements. It’s cute (sometimes) the first time. After that, {{yawn}}. And I’m heading for my browser’s back button. And so will your web site’s visitors. Don’t make this mistake!

2. Spelling and Grammar Mistakes. I’ll hold some teenybopper’s MySpace page to a lower standard than I would a legal web site or some other web site that contains information of a technical or expert nature. But it really doesn’t matter. Spell-check your copy, people! Nothing destroys credibility faster.

3. No Contact Information. Sometimes I may want to tell you about some glaring spelling nit on your web site. Or I may have a question about a product or services you sell. Especially if you sell a product or services, a way to get in touch with you is an ABSOLUTE MUST. Even if it’s just a mailto: link. (But the professional way to do it is to have an actual Contact Form for your site’s visitors to fill out with a space for their comments.)

4. No Immediately Identifiable Purpose. Must web surfers out there have the attention spans of rose bushes. If I come to your web site and I cannot figure out what it is about, what you do, who you are or why you have this web site, I’m outta there. Your writing should be concise and punchy and your site’s mission or goal should be readily apparent, from the design and/or from the copy. Too verbose, and your site visitors won’t hang around long enough to learn more about you. The goal is to capture your audience in about 15 seconds. Once they’re THERE and have figured out what the site’s purpose is, they’ll hang around and explore the site further. But the first minute or so that a visitor spends on your site is crucial. Make sure you know what your web site says about you, your products, your services.

5. No Fresh Content. It won’t do any good to get visitors to stay if they have no reason to. And they won’t stay — and worse yet, they won’t return — if they don’t see new content every once in awhile. You don’t have to update every day, but you should try to update at least once a week. (And I’m guilty as charged on this count!).

6. No RSS Feed. Most people are very busy and have a limited amount of time to spend surfing casual web sites. Unless you have a product or service that people are clamoring to buy, you need a way to promote your fresh new content. In this day and age, there simply is no excuse for not having an RSS feed on your site. Sometimes, it’s the only way a person has to know that you’ve added new content. Feedburner is your friend.

7. Hijacking My Computer. My mouse and mouse cursor are mine and mine alone. Don’t attempt to hijack them with fancy mouse trails (those are SOOOO 1990s, people). Ditto my browser’s windows. Let ME decide if I want to open a link in a new tab or new browser window or if I believe I have enough sense to click the “Back” button to get where I was before. Remember: I’m in charge here!

8. Too Much Noise. Quite a few people surf from their offices (presumably during their lunch hours). Not only that, quite a few people (myself included) listen to their own music while surfing the Internet. Trying to compete with that will just annoy them. If you must have music on your web site, make sure it’s disabled on page load. Then let the viewer decide if they want to listen to your MIDI masterpiece or not. Even musicians’ web sites should be no exception, although most people who care will hit that mute button on their computer speakers before visiting such a site. Still, it shows a lot of class and style and consideration for one’s site visitors if you disable sounds initially and LET THE VISITOR decide when and how he wants to listen to your web site’s musical offerings.

9. Not Enough White Space, Too Much Filler. While I realize that some people live and die by their Google Adsense revenue, I don’t want to see a site peppered with Google Ads. Learn to use white space judiciously. Breaking up content into easily identifiable groups helps me to scan your site for relevant (to me) content, helps me to focus on what you want me to focus on. And if I’m in a good mood, well, I might just click through on one or two of those Google Ads if they strike my fancy.

10. Site “Under Construction.” If it’s under construction, it should be on a testbed or in a sandbox somewhere else, not live on the Internet. And technically speaking, a web site, due to its dynamic nature, will always be “under construction.” Besides, that too is SOOO 1990s. Either take the site down until it’s ready for prime time or just live with the fact that you’ll never be done updating your web site and remove that annoying statement (and any gratuitous graphics that go along with it).