11 Ways to Destroy Your Website

There is plenty of advice out there on how to improve your website, but we've decided to take a different approach with this post.  Below are 11 Ways to Destroy Your Website.  Take these warnings seriously and avoid the mistakes that can do some serious damage to your web efforts.

1. Don't ever update your content.

Just like people, businesses change. Your business today is different than it was 5 years ago. Do you offer the same products and services? Have you discovered new selling points and areas that make your business different and better than your competitors? If you can answer yes to any of these questions, it’s time to update your website.  If you're not actively talking about your business, chances are that nobody else is either.  Your website is an easy platform to distribute news and information about your business.  Keeping the same content on your website is not giving your visitors a reason to return to your website.  Blogs like this one give past clients, current prospects vendors and industry colleges a reason to visit again and again, keeping your business top of mind when the need for your products and services arise.

2. Leave news and events posted from 2002

Nothing clues visitors in to the fact that you've not updated your website more than showing news and events from the distant past.  Like we discussed above, your visitors want fresh and relevant content.  Any indication that your site is out of date can give your visitor a reason to abandon your website.  News postings dating back several years or anything that references dates in the past can send the wrong message.  Visitors will be asking themselves: How correct is the information on this website?  If this company doesn't take the time to update their website, how eager are they to provide timely service to me?

3. Make your website impossible to find in Google

Believe it or not, you can build your website in a way that makes it impossible for Google or other search engines to find and evaluate your website.  Most would agree that having your website rank in the search engines for your business' name and keywords that are relevant to the products and services you provide is necessary in order to have a successful website.  When you build a website using animation tools like Flash, you're limiting the search engine's ability to read the text on your website.  Flash website generally look great, but they can come at the cost of good rankings.  In addition, there are techniques implemented by web designers (for good reason) to prevent search engines from indexing areas of your website.  If this is done incorrectly, your website could be overlooked and excluded from search rankings.

Generally speaking, if you want to rank well within the search engines be sure that your website is not 100% Flash based, and that your webmaster has not inadvertently blocked search engines from viewing your site.  In addition, adding new content, encouraging other websites to link to your site, and utilizing keywords within your website's links, text and headings will allow you to enhance your website's rankings.

4. Forget to tell your visitors what next step to take.

If you want them to buy, ask them.  If you want them to fill out the contact form for more information, give them a reason to do so.  Every web page is a chance for your visitors to move to a different page of your site, be converted to a lead, or abandon your site altogether.  I think you would agree that we want the visitor to be converted.  But, why do so may web pages leave this to chance?  Proper planning and evaluation of what the next logical step “should” be from any web page will allow you to create an opportunity for the visitor to follow your direction.  Use text and visual cues to show the visitor what they should be doing next.  Don't be afraid to be obvious!  If they should add a product to a shopping cart, for instance, make sure it's loud and clear.  Don't leave the decision of what to do next up to the visitor, because it's more than likely that they'll choose to leave your site, never to return.

5. Have a broken contact us form.

So, you've successfully guided your visitor to one of your goals.  They have decided to fill out your contact form and transform themselves into a bonified lead.  Congratulations are in order, but… wait.  Your contact form doesn't work, or even worse the email generated from this form is sent into a black hole.  All the hard work, time and money that you've invested has just been lost.  When you launch your website, be sure that you test your contact form.  Ensure that the “from” email address is listed in your email's list of safe addresses (or white list) so that emails don't end up in your spam folder.  It's always a good idea to check your contact from time to time to ensure the proper delivery of good leads to your inbox.

6. Forget to add Google Analytics

Website statistics tell the true story of what's happening with your website.  Do you know how many visitors are making it to your site?  Do you know which pages are causing visitors to abandon your website?  Measuring the results of marketing efforts and optimizing your website for better conversion rates is just pure guess-work without the statistics to back it up.

Google Analytics is one of the most complete (and free) tools that you can install into your website to get in-depth information about your site's performance.  Don't rely on your web host to provide statistics.  Take matters into your own hands and ensure that Google Analytics is installed in your site.

It might be worth mentioning that another way to destroy your website is to have Google Analytics, but never look at it.  This data is telling you how to make bottom line improvements to your website.  Why not have a look?  Automated reports can be emailed at a scheduled interval so you always have fresh data at your disposal.

7. Don't update your website for security threats, ever.

If you have a reliable host (see #9), your server should be at minimal risk for security threats, but that does not mean your website it safe.  If your website is using open source tools such as content management systems, email marketing tools, photo galleries there is a good chance that they need to be updated to keep your site from being hacked.  Websites that are hacked or compromised risk many negative side effects including lost search engine rankings, lost visitor confidence and trust and failure of your website.

8. Use a proprietary content management system.

Content management systems are tools that web designers integrate into modern websites that give you the ability to make day to day changes to your website without having to know complex codes such as HTML.  There are many different types of content management systems, but generally speaking they can be classified into two types:  open source and proprietary.  Generally speaking, proprietary systems will limit your growth and ability to choose to have someone else work on your website.  Adding advanced features or customizing your websites to your detailed specifications may also prove to be difficult or impossible.  Open source content management systems are well supported, customizable and portable.  There are some exceptions to this, but your best bet is to choose a content management system that is of the open source variety.

9. Choose an unreliable web host.

Is your website online when your visitors are trying to use it?  It better be.  Choosing a web host that is reliable is an important step because it's important that your website is available and ready for your visitors when they show up.  Testing your web host's website (browsing pages, evaluating how quickly pages load) is an easy way to tell how reliable your prospective host is, but dont' be afraid to ask around and search the internet to see if there are any reports of people's success with your web host.  It's also important to understand that the cheapest web host is not always the best.  Low cost web hosts often “over-sell” their server's capacity banking on the premise that most of their customers will never truly utilize the allotted disk space or bandwidth that comes with their hosting account.   Over-sellers are easy to spot as their plans often come with “Unlimited” disk space or bandwidth.

10. Forget to renew your domain and lose it forever.

Your domain name is your calling card.  It's your identity and unique to your website.  Every day, domains expire and websites blink out of existence.  How do you know that your site is not next?  First step is to check to see when your domain expires and mark it on your calendar.  If someone registered your domain on your behalf, ask them to make sure your domain is set to automatically renew on expiration.

In the event your domain expires, you usually have between 30 and 90 days to rescue it, but it's usually more expensive than renewing it before expiration.  Domains that are released back into the “wild” are available for anyone to register, and in most cases consider your domain name gone.

11. Fail to capture prospect information

Remember that visitors to your site are in shopping mode.  You wouldn't expect someone to accept your marriage proposal on the first date, so why would you expect that first time visitors to immediately do business with you.  The truth is that they may not be ready to take the plunge and purchase a product or request a consultation, but they are seeking information.  Rather than just asking them to sign up for a newsletter, offer a how-to guide, top 10 tips page, budget worksheet or anything that will benefit them and allow you to capture their e-mail address.  Armed with this information you can utilize an auto-responder or e-mail marketing campaign that develops a relationship and keeps your company top of mind so when they are ready to move forward the are more likely to do it with you.

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