|
copyright © 2004 by Karyn Greenstreet. All
rights reserved. Although personal and
business websites have been in existence for more than 10 years, I’m still
seeing small business owners 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).
-
"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.
-
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. Take the visitor counter off your site and use your
website statistics to get a more accurate assessment of the people
visiting your site. If your hosting company doesn’t provide good
statistics, get a new one. Check
out our article on how to choose a hosting company.
-
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.
-
Overuse of technology. There are some really great,
cool and wild techie things you can program into your website. But if
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 when your site
opens, animated graphics and other large graphics, as well as scrolling
text and audio that comes on as soon as the person hits your website.
Recent surveys show that people crave simplicity and easy navigation in
sites.
-
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://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_actpass.html
-
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.
-
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. Also, since people DO print web pages to read later, make
sure your contact information is at the bottom of each page.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Believing in “build it and they will come.” It might
have worked in the movie Field Of Dreams, but the reality of internet
marketing is: 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.
------------------------------------------------------------
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
------------------------------------------------------------
Most Popular Articles
|
|
