Top Website Mistakes
Client Centers Network
by Tia Scott
www.clientcenters.com
Everyone makes mistakes especially with websites. Let's look at the top
website mistakes and how you can avoid them.
-Not Being Prepared
You can't just throw a website together. It takes planning. It needs a
purpose, a target audience and an existence. You don't have to make
money from your website for it to serve a purpose. You can use your
website to tell potential customers about your business or to take
orders online. Take a look at our pre-sale checklist to ensure you are
prepared before you contact your designer.
-Thinking Cheaper is Better
If you can find a web designer to develop your website for you for a
skim price, more power to you. But the results may lack quality and the
design you desired. The term "You get what you pay for" applies here.
Do your homework before choosing a web designer. Make sure you read
their web design contract, check their prices and if any additional
cost might apply. Always check their portfolio and call past clients if
you have to.
-Assuming Too Much
Some people think you can throw a website online and become instant
yahoo.com and make millions. Sadly, it doesn't work that way. A website
needs planning, thoughtfulness, a purpose, updates, and more. The
popular and financially successful websites of today wasn't thrown
together overnight. Their popularity took time; months even years to
develop and spread the word.
-Features Too Soon
What use is a message board or a user interactive chat room if no one
visits and uses them. Make sure your traffic is getting plenty of
visitors that will post and use these features. Some exceptions are
customer support features.
-Too Much Animation
Waving things and twisty turny features can distract a user from the
content. Only use animation when absolutely necessary. Also keep in
mind of your dial up users.
-Not Checking Stats
Your web stats tell you who is visiting, for how long, what pages they
visited, how they got there and what search engines they came from.
This is like a mini advertising report and it is smart to review them
once a month.
-Too Much Advertising
Too many banner ads may turn a visitor off. This includes pop ups and
pop unders. It is advisable to limit your static banner ads to 2-3 per
page and limit your uses of pop up ads.
-Not Using Meta Tags
Search engines depend on meta tags to help index your site and
determine how relevant your pages are to certain keywords. Read How
search engines work for more information.
-Touching That Button
If you don't know what it does, don't touch it! You can end up screwing
up your site and paying repairs to the web designer or hosting company
to repair them. Our advise would be to ask the web designer or hosting
company first.
-Questions?
If you need help choosing a domain name, feel free to contact us.