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What consumers want from websites is at times different from what business owners deliver. The Internet is a commodity now, and above all else, it serves as a source of information and communication.

Two recent studies, one focused on student preferences in college web site design, and the other on the preferences of online consumers, reveal a common thread. Above all, both groups want fast-loading websites that enable them to access needed information in as few clicks as possible.

In student feedback solicited by Wesleyan University, students made a plea to minimize the use of different technologies such as Flash and JavaScript to help make pages load at maximum speed. This is the primary request of students nationwide according to a consulting firm that specializes in web development for colleges.

Online consumers have expressed a similar need. The vast majority of consumers expected web pages to load quickly regardless of what time of year the site was visited, and that goes for travel, retail and most any other type of serious" site. If it's a business, and it's online, consumers expect near-instant page loads. Anything less, and the customer will "walk away".

The evidence makes it clear: Fast-loading web pages are the number one consumer concern. If your business web site is slow-loading due to needless graphics and slow-loading animations, you could lose customers of all ages as a result.

Consumers are coming to your website to answer a question or fill a need. Can they get the information they want quickly? Can you imagine walking into a store and having someone at the door insist on engaging you in 45 seconds or more of conversation that you don't want before you're allowed to see any merchandise? Would that annoy you, especially if it happened every time you entered the store? A slow-loading home page that forces you to view a media-rich spinning, blinking "intro" has the same annoying effect!

What Users Do Not Want

• Users don't like to wait.
• Users get bored quickly. Waiting for pictures bores users just as fast as waiting for text.
• They don't want to have to slog through large amounts of the text looking for one key nugget of information.
• They don't want to become lost at your Web site.
• They don't want pages that say "Under Construction." When the page is ready, put it up on your Web.
• Users don't like pages that scroll and scroll and scroll forever. Keep page short.
• User hates anything resembling marketing fluff. They prefer factual information. So, do not mix marketing and sales materials in the same paragraph or block of text that contains factual information. Marketing is fine, but not there.

Listen to your customers. Give customers what they came for. Make it easy to find, and pleasant to view. Make the sale.