Your Stinking Website
Written by Matthew Henage Saturday, 30 April 2011 08:47
Your website stinks, I can smell it from here. The following is one of many reasons why your website might stink.
No Planning
You were on a tight schedule, you needed customers fast or you just didn't want to take the time. Whatever your reason for not planning was probably a poor one. And this is could be a good reason why your website stinks. First plan out your navigation, your brand image, the type of visitors you want to attract and then build out your web design.
You Forgot to Budget
No matter how large your budget is, if you don't designate a portion of your budget to more than just web design your website is as good as a ghost town. Your website needs visitors, why else have a website if you don't plan on anyone visiting it. But too often people just build a site, and wait for eager visitors to seek them out. The problem, the visitors have no way of finding them. Put a portion of your budget into branding and design, a portion into content and development, a portion into SEO and a portion into Internet advertising.
Your Website only works with FireFox
Your website looks great in Firefox, but looks awful in Internet Explorer or vice versa. With problems like this, you are presenting a destructive image to half or more of your audience. Make sure your website works in Internet Explorer 6-8, Firefox 2-3, and Safari browsers. Heck, It couldn't hurt to check it out in Google Chrome as well.
Cluttered - Too Many Voices
One of the things that made Google the most used search engine is because they knew why people were went to their site, and they gave it to them. The equation, give people value + make it easy for them = online success. Too many sites on the web have too much clutter on their website. Make your layout clean, your navigation intuitive and your content valuable.
Your Website is Worthless
When it comes to pleasing web site visitors and search engines, there is one thing in common: content. But the value of your content is what makes your visitors stick around. The best way to get a visitor to stick around is to give them what they want. To do this, you must know who your customers are and what they want. Fail to know your customer, and it just becomes that much harder to provide value to them.
You Make Your Audience Wait
If your designer/webmaster created a splash page, that's reason enough to fire them on the spot. Thank goodness we see these nuisances less and less as time moves on. Virtually no one likes splash pages, and it is usually a poor first impression for any visitor to your site.
You Forgot to Put Design into Web Design
Did you choose a template for your site? Or could the same design for your website be used for any other company? What you're lacking is a brand, meaning a specific image or voice for your company. By creating a generic design, you haven't given your customers any reason for choosing you over your competitors, which means you're losing more business than you should be. Pick a designer who has an in depth understanding of branding to avoid this deadly mistake.
About the Author:
One of Utah's leading expert Internet Marketers, Matthew Henage, has shared his wisdom of how to craft a superior web design and market it to a target audience. His knowledge has made his Utah web design firm known as a one of the top Utah website design companies around.