Is a lame website bad for your brain?

File this one under “Who Knew?” So not only do those slow, wack, duct tapped together websites that take forever to load make you roll your eyes when you stumble across them, but they may even be causing you stress and agitation.  According to what may be perhaps the goofiest study I have yet to find online, busted websites could be potentially dangerous.  A devoted team of volunteers at Foviance in the UK subjected their brainwaves to analysis while using the Internet. Researchers at the consulting firm found that Internet users have to “concentrate…more” (heaven forbid)  and that malfunctioning websites may also cause tension and stress as determined by motoring the volunteer’s facial muscles.

Now before you go thinking that this little fluffy load of hooey should be filed somewhere else, there may be some actual validity to a study like this.  The article goes on to note that in our fast paced “I want it now dammit” world that web users who encounter slow and poorly designed and promoted websites are less likely to return but highly likely to tell others to stay away. Also, lousy websites regardless of what they offer will soon become ghosts towns if they are difficult to use or navigate. Word of something sucky spreads at a rapid fire pace online so a situation like this could unfurl a potential bad PR blizzard.

So this got me wondering how many great online ideas were out there but because of bad website design and zero promotion they silently withered and died? My guess is that the number is probably in the millions. Having a fast, well kept site is easier to do than ever today and requires a little patients and a lot of  research. The days of hard to manage websites are over. If your “web guy” is still a pain in the neck with little results, time has shown that there is always somebody younger and cheaper around the corner.   Online promotion and online branding also can save a web-based business from becoming just a good idea.  A super slick and easy to operate website is of no use at all if nobody knows that it exists. Again, this can be done cheaply, creatively, and relatively painlessly. And best of all it requires zero brainwave monitoring.