TOP 10 WEBSITE MISTAKES

After being a website designer and user since 1996, I'm still

seeing people make the same mistakes on their websites.

Here's a list of the ones that will drive people away from

your site and cause you to lose business (and your reputation

as a professional business person).



1. "Under construction" signs on your site. Websites are

intended to be Living Documents. They are supposed to

change and grow. Putting an "under construction" sign

on your website marks you as an amateur. If your site

isn't ready to show to the public, don't publish it to a

public location.



2. Visitor counters. Visitors generally don't care how

many other people have visited your site. If the

visitor counter shows a low number, that can be a

psychological turn-off to people; if it's too high,

people might believe that you've forged the number.

Just take the visitor counter off your site. If you

really need to know how many people have visited your

website, check your statistics. (If your hosting

company doesn't provide good statistics, get a new one!)

Check out our article on how to choose a hosting

company:



http://www.passionforbusiness.com/articles.htm



3. Lack of copyright statements. Everything you write, and

your website design itself, is copyright-able. Make

sure you include copyright statements on every page, and

update the year in the copyright statement as

appropriate. Nothing screams "Not up-to-date" like

having a copyright statement from 1997 on your site.



4.Overuse of technology. There are some really great, cool

and wild techie things you can program into your

website. But it they are going to distract the visitor

from your message, or if they're going to slow down the

loading of your page, ditch the extra technology in

favor of simplicity. This includes large Flash shows,

animated graphics and other large graphics, as well as

scrolling text and audio that comes on as soon as the

person hits your website.



5. Passive verbs. Use active verbs and active sentences

when writing your site's copy. Active verbs are

powerful and lend energy to your site. Need to brush up

on using active verbs? Check out this site:



http://essayinfo.com/tips/active_verbs.php



6. Long sentences. When people read long sentences, they

have to keep the first part of the sentence in their

mind when reading the last part. People are easily

distracted. Help your visitors by keeping your

sentences short and crisp.



7. Long pages. Studies show that most people will not read

a long page of text off of their computer monitor.

They'll either print it or they'll scan it looking for

major topics and bullet points. Keep your pages short.

If you have a lot to say, consider creating a series of

pages that explain your topic, with good navigation

between each page.



8. Not identifying the benefits of your products or

services. People make purchases for two reasons: to get

rid of pain or to get pleasure. People want to know how

your products and services will help them with their

specific pain/pleasure situation. Instead of telling

them that your widgets are made from steel and are 3

inches across, tell them that your widgets will stop

their faucets from leaking for a lifetime.



9. Forgetting to ask the visitor to do something. In

marketing, this is known as a Call To Action. Tell your

visitors what you want them to do next. Sign up for my

newsletter. Call me. Order today.



10. Believing in "build it and they will come." It

might have worked in the movie Field Of Dreams, but in

the reality of internet marketing it's: build it, MARKET

it, and they will come. Once you've built your website

you have to tell people about it. Think of your website

the same way you'd think of a box of marketing

brochures: if you don't get them into the hands of

people, they're not worth the money you spent to create

them.



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Karyn Greenstreet is a Self Employment expert and small business coach. She shares tips, techniques and strategies with self-employed people to boost clarity and focus, create sustainable motivation, and increase sales and profits. Visit her website at www.PassionForBusiness.com



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copyright © 2008. Karyn Greenstreet. All rights reserved.