9 Common Mistakes

9 Common Business Website Mistakes

Poor layout /  navigation

  • Every page within a website has a different look to it.  Background, navigation bar,  and theme are examples.  A professional website should have a natural flow from page to page so that your visitors can navigate easily and get the information they want quickly.  Professional websites should also have a similar look and feel from page to page.  The navigation bar should always look and feel the same from one page to another.  This helps with aiding your visitors to navigate as they get familiar with your website.  It should also stay in the same position within the website.

 

Improper/Non-existent Indexing of Your Website

  • There are many great small business websites out there, but if it cannot be found through search engines, then chances are that no one is going to find it!  Amazingly enough, most websites aren’t set up properly for SEO (Search Engine Optimization).  One look at any website’s source code reveals if a proper META tag is in place that search engines use to properly index your site.  Make sure your website has this in place at the very least!

 

Hit counters

  • Hit counters displayed on a website are inaccurate and unprofessional looking.  Being able to analyze website results is a big part of building your business online.  Our all-in-one hosting package includes AWStats, which analyzes page views, time of day of visit, how much time they spent on your site, where they came from, what key words were used to type into search engines, and a lot more.

 

Background music

  • This is one of the most complained about features on a website. The internet public simply does not want background music to begin to play without warning. If the nature of a site involves music, provide the user with the option to start and stop the player.

 

Slow page loading

  • Research shows that more than 50% of internet users are using dial-up connections to access the web. If your page does not download rapidly, visitors will quickly move on to find another site.   Pictures should be optimized and re-sized for web displays.  Try to avoid using too many special effects whenever possible, as these can add to the amount of data that is needed to be downloaded.

 

Not getting the website’s message across to visitors

  • The purpose of having a website is to provide information and communicate to your visitors.  Information such as what the business is about, how long you have been in business, your products/services, and a contact form for communication, are all important in getting your message across.  Stick to the basics!  For example, there is no need to explain every detail about each employee at a particular business.

 

Using free Email Addresses

  • Using a free email address, such as Yahoo, Hotmail, or Gmail, is never appropriate for your website or for business correspondence.  How credible and professional do you look when you reply to a visitor with one of these free email accounts?  When you give out your business card, what type of professionalism do you project when it displays a free email address?  When it comes to your business, always use an email addresses associated with your business domain.

 

Using free hosting

  • If you want your business to be taken seriously, this is a common website mistake you definitely want to avoid, such as “sites.google.com” or “shawwebspace.ca”.  This comes down to your credibility and professionalism shown to your visitors.  Would they trust you if they know you couldn’t afford $20 a month?

 

Using subdomains

  • Subdomains are typically free, but they make it difficult for your visitors to find (ie. www.shawwebspace.ca/mybusinessname).  What do you think of the credibility or professionalism this projects to you when you see it?  What if it was your web address?  How would your visitors feel?