Tag Archive for: avoid website mistakes

Website Mistakes That Entrepreneurs Should Avoid

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Several businesses just create their websites without thinking thoroughly. Numerous information are just dump into the website. So, if you are business owner, allocate a budget in building a website for your business. Yes, there are free and ease to use website builders today. But if you are not knowledgeable about the concepts of web design, you will surely make serious mistakes. Instead of helping your business, the website will not attract any potential clients.

You should avoid these website mistakes:

  • THE WEBSITE’S PURPOSE IS NOT CLEAR
    Having a website will not magically conjure customers. You have to plan carefully and you have to know the goal. Are you making a site to expand your physical store? Are you creating one to gain online exposure? Build a website according to your desired purpose.
  • THINKING ANY WEBSITE DESIGN WILL DO
    Nope. As stated above, you need to know the website’s purpose. Do you want to sell your products online? If not, then, focus on having an active online presence first. Do not waste money on something you will not utilize. Set up a simple and neat website that has the essential business information like store address, email address, links to different social media accounts, phone numbers, and more.
  • WHEN YOU STRIVE TO BE DIFFERENT
    All great websites have a common ground. They all have a straightforward navigation. Clicking the Contact Us will redirect you to contact numbers and email addresses. The About page will indicate the company information. Do not try to deviate from this standard structure because most people will choose comfort than style. Adding your own flair won’t do any harm, but make sure you do not compromise the quality of your content.
  • STRUGGLING TO MAKE IT EXTREMELY PRETTY
    Use Yahoo! as an example. Their website only uses the color violet. The most visited websites are not too flashy and they just maintain a neat and simple homepage. Striking colors are compulsory. A neat and professional looking website is enough. Besides, clients will not dwell on the design. They care about the information on your website more.
  • WHEN NAVIGATION IS NOT A  MAIN PRIORITY
    When you make a website,  navigation should be number one on the list. Make sure visitors can navigate with ease. When potential clients browse your website, they won’t have time to figure out everything out. If they can’t find what they need, they will leave and find another website.
  • ATTACHING .PDF FILES
    If you plan to include brochures on your website, please do not include .PDF or any other file that requires an independent file viewer. Use a file that is universal. Perhaps, you can attach a document or an image. Surely, every device can view image files. Not everyone has the patience to download a specific file viewer.
  • ANNOYING ADVERTISEMENTS
    Yes, you earn through ads, but, limit them to a few. It is very distracting when visitors try to read and an ad shows up in the middle of the screen. Furthermore, banner ads on the sides cover some of the text. Make sure ads do not compromise your content.
  • THINKING IT’S AN ONLINE NOTEPAD
    Your website is not a place for you to indicate everything from A to Z. Do not place a gigantic block of text on your website. Surely, your clients will hurriedly leave your site.
  • WHEN YOU DESIGN A WEBSITE THAT’S ONLY FOR COMPUTERS
    Mobile users are growing at an exceptional rate. Not considering the huge number of people using their mobile everyday is a fatal mistake. Consider all users, whether they using a desktop, tablet, or a mobile. Make sure all devices can connect to your website with ease.

 

Avoid These Website Blunders

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When you have an online business, you have a social media account.

Form follows function.

Functional websites win the hearts of the customers, and they sure make a lot of profit.  But how can you make profit if your website is not organized, or it does not have a clear navigation panel? You would not want to drive away potential customers.

Definitely avoid these website mistakes as much as possible:

  • Dead Links
    Websites should avoid having dead or broken links.  If your website links do not redirect to the desired product, you will definitely lose a customer, and they will leave a negative review of your website. Most of us spend our time online and we constantly search for things we might like, and these links given by websites are important in helping us to find a product we want. If you want to check your website’s links, you can use this free link checker. A page not found error is big NO so better check your links before posting anything!
  • Small Font Sizes
    Product descriptions are extremely important because they will help the customer on which item to buy. How do you expect them to get anything if the text is not clear? Customers like to browse for new things to buy, they are interested on the latest fashion trend, or gadget so make sure that your website’s texts are clear and readable especially if they are links. Customers should be able to clearly see your CTA buttons like Shop Now, or Buy Now. The longer they are, the harder they are to read so break them into smaller paragraphs.
  • Vague “Contact Us” page
    As a veracious reader myself, I am very particular with the books that I buy. I have a prefer hardcovers over paperback editions, and prefer UK publishers over US one because books are sturdier. Rather than searching a stack of over a million books, I just contact the book seller, and have them search for the book. Some websites do not have a clear FAQ page, contact number, or email address.
  • No (or inactive) social media accounts
    This is related to the blunder above. Now, everyone has at least one social media account. According to a research, 85% of Twitter users said that it is important for businesses to provide customer support on Twitter.  Advertise your official social media pages because people tend to search for businesses online and most likely, inquire online too. Answering questions quickly means a superb customer service. You give a positive impression that you want to help your customers.
  • No search boxes
    It is good to provide your customers several options, but when there’s too much options, it confuses your customers. Trust that the customers know what they want so give them an easy access to the product they want. It does not matter if you have one million products, or only ten, it is always  ideal to provide a way to search your website and to refine the existing search results. Prevent Choice Paralysis.