Website Mistakes by the Dozen

Your website is often your first impression to the world. Even if you own a brick and mortar business, people often find you online first.

Your website should encourage visitors to linger and explore. Avoid these website errors that lead to frustrated users and lost business.

Home Page

1. Your business purpose is not clear.
   • Solution: Don't make them wonder if they are in the right place. Your central message should be obvious.
2. Your contact information is missing or difficult to locate. No contact information equals no sale.
   • Solution: Your phone number should be prominent on every page of your site. When a customer is ready to buy make sure you're easy to reach.
3. Your website takes too long to load due to large graphics or flash files.
   • Solution: Design with speed in mind. Keep graphics to a minimum. Use multimedia only if it enhances the understanding of the information.
4. Your website is more "salesy" and less informative. People have started unconsciously ignoring anything that looks like an ad online. See Jakob Nielsen's example of the U.S. Census Bureau's website mistake.
   • Solution: Avoid designs that are all fluff and marketing. Create designs that solve visitors problems and provide them with information.

Content

5. Your site is too wordy. People don't come to read, they come to for solutions and answers.
   • Solution: Steve Krug, usability consultant and author of Don't Make Me Think, recommends cutting your content in half...and then cutting it in half again!
6. Your content is not written for the internet. Web users scan pages quickly looking for the information they seek.
   • Solution: Use subheadings, bullets, highlighted words, simple style and marketing-free language.
7. You are not answering your visitor's questions. People are online with a goal in mind.
   • Solution: Think like your customer. What do they want to know? Answer their questions.
8. Your content is not up-to-date. Stale content and old news tell visitors your site is not current. People go online to find the most recent information now!
   • Solution: Create a plan to keep your website updated weekly (or at a minimum monthly).

Application/Design

9. You have poor navigation. Visitors spend most of their time on other sites and expect similar navigation.
   • Solution: Follow conventional design techniques for locating information. Don't underline anything that is not a clickable link. Include a search feature and a site map.
10. You have poor page titles. Page titles are displayed on search engine results and bookmarks.
    • Solution: Start pages with key words of what people will find on that page. Don't start titles with "The" or "Welcome" unless you want to be files under T or W.
11. Your design is not consistent throughout the site.
    • Solution: Keep fonts, color schemes, and location of information consistent on all pages. Follow best website design practices.
12. You didn't hire a professional.
    • Solution: According to Tim Knox in Entrepreneur Magazine, "it's not enough that you just have a website. You must have a professional-looking site if you want to be taken seriously."

Creating a website for your business is essential. There are lots of things to think about: design, usability, function, content, SEO, and lead conversion. Competition for potential customers' attention is fierce. Make sure your website is not committing any mistakes that cause visitors to find your competitors.