Writing Website Advice

Ordinarily I don't dis others' contributions to make the world a better place for freelancers and other writers. Usually, when I run across an article that makes dubious claims in the guise of expertise, I just try to counter with a positive piece of my own. I'm going to make an exception for an article that Jeff Wuorio wrote for ConnectIT, a newsletter for small and medium businesses.

Wurio has written several books and articles on personal finance and business. He has a free email account with Roadrunner, a free blog design with content loaded by Blogger, hosted on the free server site Blogspot, and as far as I could find, no website. While I might voraciously read his works for help battling reluctant early retirement, life in an era of inflation with a fixed income, and other personal financial crises, why should I trust his views on Nine Things Not to have on your website? I ask because I see the link being passed around among writers and publishers.

Most people might heavily salt such advice or perhaps seriously consider it--if it were backed up by heavyweight site design experts, but those quoted in the article are all in public relations. Some of the tips are, indeed, common sense issues, like not giving away trade secrets or confusing viewers. But c'mon, don't have your photo on the first page? Don't get personal or provide communication information? The opposite are basic tenets of site design according to guru Jakob Nielsen and many other professionals in businesses like A List Apart, SitePoint, Mezzoblue/css Zen Garden. Even good ol' Web Monkey offers free credible web design tutoring (by Wired.com).