New Jersey Entrepreneur

Pop-up windows used to be more prevalent in websites, but still I see many websites that use them.  Although they look fairly harmless, I'm going to discuss two issues that you need to be aware of: visitor browser issues and search engine optimization (SEO) issues.

Just about everyone can remember the time when you would go to a website and get bombarded with one pop-up after another.  No sooner would  you close one then another would appear.  To combat this problem, most web browsers included a pop-up blocker feature.  Unfortunately, many legitimate pop-ups were also included in this “take no prisoners” approach to pop-up blocking.

I was recently asked to review a colleague's website. I could not get past the first page, because every link in the navigation needed to open in a pop-up window. The pop-up blocker in my FireFox browser displayed only a small icon in the bottom corner of the screen, apparently designed to warn me of the failed attempt to display a pop-up. I had to know that I was supposed to click on the icon and select the correct option to display the pop-up. Every web browser has its own pop-up blocker control panel, which web surfers can configure. But few people understand how to use this, or even realized that it exists, and simply settle for the defaults set by the browser. Bottom line, that website is unusable to most visitors.

The search engines that browse your web pages have no pop-up blockers and are frequently able to index the content of these web pages. A pop-up can contain text and images in a standard HTML web page, or it can often be just one image, video, PDF or Word document. If the pop-up page shows up in a search engine results page from the likes of Google, Yahoo, Bing, et al, when the visitor clicks on the link, that page will appear full screen size in their browser.

That observation aside, there are other real problems with these pages that contain pop-up content. Pop-ups generally contain no logo or company name, no navigation, no links to other web pages, no footer with copyright and contact information -- not even a link to your your home page. Some PDF or Word documents may contain some of this information, but many do not. Most often visitors will have no idea who owns this content or how to get in touch with you.

Pop-ups: Just Say No

Rather than use pop-ups, the content should simply be put in another web page. One standard-looking  page of your website can contain all header, navigation and footer information with only an enlarged image, single video, or HTML version of PDF or Word content. In the case of images and video, the page can also be used to add captions that increase your search engine optimization while adding more value to the visitor.

Restrict your use of pop-ups to documents that need be printed out in a strict 8-1/2 x 11 inch format for your visitors, like a federal or state form. But most forms can be rewritten for the web. Archived PDF newsletters are popular and necessary website content, but these usually have contact information and your website location in the masthead, assisting the new visitor in contacting you.

There will always be a need for some pop-up windows, but now armed with the perils you are in a better position to make the content in your pop-ups more effective.

Mark Beck is Vice President and Partner of The Boulevard Group, a full service internet services company specializing in web design, web development and internet marketing. The Boulevard Group serves a broad customer base and provides services that include dynamic content management systems, database-driven ecommerce catalogs and shopping carts, and traditional brochure-style web sites. Mark formerly provided content to the Duct Tape Marketing blog where he covered topics relating to web design and internet marketing. He may be contacted at

Mark@theblvdgroup.com or by calling 908-876-3707.