Why Your Website Stinks
January 15, 2009; By Matthew Henage
Filed Under: Internet Marketing Web Design
Your website stinks, I can smell it from here. The following could be one of many reasons why your website might stink.
No Planning
The most common reason for not planning is to save time. Not planning your website when you start creating it is like having someone build a home without any blueprints. Without blueprints or a website plan, you'll end up with results that stink. The best reason to plan out your website before having it built is to save time and money.
Your Budget Wasn't Well Rounded
So you thought you just needed a website and traffic would magically show up. Spending the entirety of your budget on design and content is a mistake worth filing chapter 7 bankruptcy. Not only do you need a website, but you also need to market it. Without an audience, your website is useless. Follow the flexible rule of thumb: spend a quarter on design and branding, a quarter on content and development, a quarter on public relations and SEO, and a quarter on your initial advertising budget.
Your Website Is Not Compliant
Your website looks great in Firefox, but looks awful in Internet Explorer or vice versa. With problems like this, you are presenting a destructive image to half or more of your audience. Make sure your website works in Internet Explorer 6-8, Firefox 2-3, and Safari browsers. Heck, It couldn't hurt to check it out in Google Chrome as well.
No Apparent Purpose Of The Site
You thought you could create a site with no thought to what you wanted to accomplish with it. As the cat from "Alice in Wonderland" said to Alice when deciding which road to take, “If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there." If you have no end destination, it means your website has no purpose; so congratulations, you've wasted your money. One of the most lucrative steps you can take in creating a website is to determine the prime purpose of your website and gear every effort towards accomplishing this goal.
Nothing Of Value
Do you find that your customers come and go but never stick around very long or return to your site? You'll find the most probable reason for this problem is your website has no apparent value to your audience. You need to understand who your audience is and what they are looking for on your site in order to make your site of value to them.
Splash Pages
If your designer/webmaster created a splash page, that's reason enough to fire them on the spot. Thank goodness we see these nuisances less and less as time moves on. Virtually no one likes splash pages, and it is usually a poor first impression for any visitor to your site.
Cluttered-Too Many Voices
So you have a million things you would like to convey to your audience and decided to do it all at once. In doing this you end up with a site that is cluttered, messy, confusing and your audience gets lost. Simplicity is an advantage, not a flaw. Making it easy for your audience to navigate and understand your site is imperitive. I know you have a thousand promotions you'd like to throw at them, but focus on one at a time.
Bland And Flavorless
Did you choose a template for your site? Or is the same design used for any other company? What you're lacking is a brand, meaning a specific image or voice for your company. By creating a generic design, you haven't given your customers any reason for choosing you over your competitors, which means you're losing more business than you should be. Pick a designer who has an in depth understanding of branding to avoid this deadly mistake.
Its Slower Than Snails
Either you chose a poor hosting service, have terrible programming for your backend or decided to do your website with media intensive flash; so it's slower than snails and you are losing your audience. Making your audience stand in line so you can pitch your business ideas to them is a poor start. If you must use the search engine enemy Flash, make sure it loads quickly or you'll lose your audience's attention and interest.
You Focused On Beauty
Was the objective of your site to entertain your audience or awe them by the beauty of your site? Unless you are in the business of selling beauty such as design, art, photography, etc., the objective of your site shouldn't be based on how beautiful your site is. Rather, the objective should be for your site to make you money!