5 Huge Mistakes 80% Of Business Websites Make

George Chaney — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:04:04 +0000

Despite all of the SEO services that exist these days—many of them mediocre at best, business websites are still making some major blunders. While this is by no means an exhaustive list of some of the missed opportunities out there, these are some of the big ones that are constantly being seen over and over again.

One – Building a Website With No Purpose

Yay, you’re on the web. Why? If the answer is something along the lines of “all the other kids are doing it,” you’re not there for the right reason. You want your business website to do something for your business, not just sit there and be pretty. Be intentional with your web presence.

Two – Not Regularly Updating The Site

I know, I know. You made the website already, what more could the world possibly want? Yes, you moved buildings so the address is wrong and the phone number doesn’t work. Okay, and that link over there misdirects…and that link is flat out broken. But the website is up, and that’s all that really matters. Sound troubling? It is, but by keeping things tidy and up to date on an ongoing basis, there’s just much less to worry about.

Three – Ignoring Customer Needs

Visitors come to your website looking for something. Please, do the world and yourself a favor—know what your potential customers want and make it easy to find. Don’t hide data, and don’t forget to make your site easily navigable. It takes a user about 5 seconds to get annoyed and go search for someone else to give them what they want. Professionals focus on getting each of these site aspects just perfect—no matter how redundant the process can be.

Four – Failing To Capture Customer Names

Just like with an offline business, many people swing by who are “just looking,” and if you don’t provide an opportunity for them to engage with you, they’ll be gone without a trace. It doesn’t have to be a free report or newsletter, but you should have some way for your visitors to give you their contact information for a follow up opportunity. It’s the only way to build an ongoing relationship with the people who find you in cyberspace.

Five – Under-investing In Webhosting

Web hosting packages don’t need to be overly expensive, but they do need to be solid enough to support the data and traffic for the website. Many businesses have sites that are down or grindingly slow on a regular basis. You can have the best content, the cleanest layout, and an airtight offer, but none of it will matter if the site is down. Looking for the perfect solution? Why not give SEO King Web Hosting a shot—we’re really good at it and we stand behind our hosting customers 100%.