5 Common Mistakes Made When Building a Website
When it comes to mistakes, we all make them. It has been said that “Three fourths of the mistakes a man makes are made because he does not really know what he thinks he knows.” With this in mind, we have included five, but definitely not all, of the most common mistakes made when building a website.
Mistake 1: Lack of logical navigation.
Make your navigation straight forward and simple. Don't confuse visitors by changing page layouts or moving navigation from page to page. Use the same layout for each page of your site. Get your visitor to the info they want as quickly as possible. Make sure to also let visitors know where they are and where they've been by distinguishing between active and visited links.
Mistake 2: Poor programming.
Your site should load quickly and make proper use of html/css. Sites that are put together wrong can be penalized by search engines. And does your site function just as well in Explorer as it does in Firefox, or even Safari?
Mistake 3: Form over Function.
Ahh, the age old argument of form vs. function. Although design plays a large role in building credibility and branding, too much design can easily overshadow your message and content.
Mistake 4: Text that doesn't speak to your visitors.
On the web, honesty is the best policy. Answer all questions that your visitors might have, especially the ones you don't want to answer. Unanswered questions is why most visitors leave a site. Remember, they don't have someone behind a counter to ask questions of. This is the difference between losing a visitor and gaining a customer.
NOTE: It's a good idea to have someone outside of your company write your copy. That way, personal biases or office politics can't hinder your efforts.
Mistake 5: Not monitoring your website's effectiveness.
You can monitor your website's effectiveness with Google Analytics. It's a free online tool that gives you all sorts of helpful statistics that you can use to make your website more effective. A good programmer can setup your account and begin your Google Analytics.
As a business owner with an online presence it's important to make sure your website is as effective as possible. If your website isn't running at peak efficiency it's most likely turning off both visitors and search engines. If you follow the above suggestions you will be well on your way to creating and managing a successful website that will have better than average return on investment.
Written by Heath Meyette of Think Tank Designs.
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