By Phyllis Edson
When putting together your business website, avoid these 10 common mistakes which can cause confusion, cause customers to leave and cost you business.
1) Difficult to navigate. Whether you have a 5-page website or a 20-page website, make sure your major headings are easy to find on your landing page. Make sure they work and each goes to the page it's supposed to. Include links on every page that go somewhere else. For example, on each of your pages in which you discuss your services, somewhere on that page, link it to a "Contact" page. Be sure to make it easy to navigate.
2) Incomplete website. Try not to include pages which are "Under Construction." If there are pages which have yet to be completed, just don't put a button on the main page that goes to an empty page.
3) Thin content. Photos and videos are a great way to show off your products and services. However, websites still need content. People do like to read and so do the search engines. In order for your website to be found by the search engines and people, your website needs quality content and lots of it.
4) Grammar and spelling errors. Make sure everything is spelled correctly, is grammatically correct and makes sense. Check to make sure names (including the name of the business!) are spelled correctly as well.
5) Lack of location, location, location. Be sure to include the location of your business. If you have a home business and don't want to include your street address, at least include your city, state and country in the footer of every page. This helps the search engines and clients find you by location.
6) Lack of contact information. Don't forget to include at least one, if not several, ways to contact you. A contact page is one option. A business e-mail and a business phone number are other options. Also, they ought to be in multiple places on your website. If they're difficult to find, people will just leave the site and you'll lose the sale.
7) Difficult to read. Before you, or your designer, finish with the website, look at it and try to read it. A variety of things can make it difficult to read. Sometimes, the colors of typefaces, background colors and different type faces can make a website difficult to read. Customers won't stick around to try to wade through it, nor should they have to.
8) Assuming "if you build it, they will come." Getting a website indexed by the search engines and getting visitors takes a lot of time and work. Just getting it online is not the end. It's just the beginning.
9) No analytics. Be sure to include analytics for your website so you can track visitors and know whether anyone is visiting your website, how long they're staying and where they're coming from.
10) Website is done. Websites are never done. They need to be maintained, updated and tweaked. The search engines need to see that the website is being maintained. Plus, if you have information on there that customers can see is old and outdated, they'll wonder whether your business is still operating.
These are 10 of the most common mistakes businesses make in building a website. If you avoid these, your website should be helpful and ready for business.
Phyllis Edson is a freelance writer and online marketer. She offers a variety of services including web content, article marketing, blogging, e-mail marketing, content creation and more. To discuss how her services can help your business, visit her website at http://www.phyllisedson.com or e-mail her at phyllisedson@comcast.net
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Phyllis_Edson
http://EzineArticles.com/?Top-10-Mistakes-on-Business-Websites&id=7284784
When putting together your business website, avoid these 10 common mistakes which can cause confusion, cause customers to leave and cost you business.
1) Difficult to navigate. Whether you have a 5-page website or a 20-page website, make sure your major headings are easy to find on your landing page. Make sure they work and each goes to the page it's supposed to. Include links on every page that go somewhere else. For example, on each of your pages in which you discuss your services, somewhere on that page, link it to a "Contact" page. Be sure to make it easy to navigate.
2) Incomplete website. Try not to include pages which are "Under Construction." If there are pages which have yet to be completed, just don't put a button on the main page that goes to an empty page.
3) Thin content. Photos and videos are a great way to show off your products and services. However, websites still need content. People do like to read and so do the search engines. In order for your website to be found by the search engines and people, your website needs quality content and lots of it.
4) Grammar and spelling errors. Make sure everything is spelled correctly, is grammatically correct and makes sense. Check to make sure names (including the name of the business!) are spelled correctly as well.
5) Lack of location, location, location. Be sure to include the location of your business. If you have a home business and don't want to include your street address, at least include your city, state and country in the footer of every page. This helps the search engines and clients find you by location.
6) Lack of contact information. Don't forget to include at least one, if not several, ways to contact you. A contact page is one option. A business e-mail and a business phone number are other options. Also, they ought to be in multiple places on your website. If they're difficult to find, people will just leave the site and you'll lose the sale.
7) Difficult to read. Before you, or your designer, finish with the website, look at it and try to read it. A variety of things can make it difficult to read. Sometimes, the colors of typefaces, background colors and different type faces can make a website difficult to read. Customers won't stick around to try to wade through it, nor should they have to.
8) Assuming "if you build it, they will come." Getting a website indexed by the search engines and getting visitors takes a lot of time and work. Just getting it online is not the end. It's just the beginning.
9) No analytics. Be sure to include analytics for your website so you can track visitors and know whether anyone is visiting your website, how long they're staying and where they're coming from.
10) Website is done. Websites are never done. They need to be maintained, updated and tweaked. The search engines need to see that the website is being maintained. Plus, if you have information on there that customers can see is old and outdated, they'll wonder whether your business is still operating.
These are 10 of the most common mistakes businesses make in building a website. If you avoid these, your website should be helpful and ready for business.
Phyllis Edson is a freelance writer and online marketer. She offers a variety of services including web content, article marketing, blogging, e-mail marketing, content creation and more. To discuss how her services can help your business, visit her website at http://www.phyllisedson.com or e-mail her at phyllisedson@comcast.net
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Phyllis_Edson
http://EzineArticles.com/?Top-10-Mistakes-on-Business-Websites&id=7284784
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