Are You Guilty Of Any Of The Most Common Mistakes Found On Web Sites?

We have seen so many web sites make the same mistakes over and over again. You can easily avoid them! Just run through this list of mistakes and crucial points, then double check your site! These common mistakes could very well make the difference in your web site being a burden and being a living.

Using Free Hosting: Internet marketing is greatly about creditability. If you are using free hosting services your visitors may well think "if you aren't willing to pay the small monthly fee for hosting, you can't be very serious about your business". With today's hosting rates found as low as $4.95 a month, can you really afford not to show your visitors your serious concerning your on-line business?

Not Using A Registered Domain Name: The same thing may be said concerning not owning your own domain name. You can register a domain name for $7.95/yearly - there is just no excuse for not owning your personal registered domain name.

Keep Load Times Fast: Surfers are an impatient group, so keep the graphics to a minimum, and keep image sizes small. If you wish to display a larger image of your product to show details, use a thumbnail on your sales page. Then link to the larger image and let the visitor know that it will take a moment to load, and ask for their patience. You can also speed up image download time by using an image compression tool.

Useless "cool" stuff: Unless you're a web designer or graphic artist that specializes in creating flash animation, or rotating logos, you probably shouldn't have these on your site. The "tip of the day", ripple effect, stars following the mouse pointer, etc. - unless you know that visitors keep coming back for these things, or they contribute in some way to the bottom line, get rid of them.

These fancy cool options slow down the download time of your pages drastically. Besides, many visitors find such things distracting and a nuisance. Most surfers would rather read your content instead of watching ticker tapes and having little crawly things follow their mouse pointer around the screen. Above all, please, don't put music on your page - some people may be browsing at work, or at home when people are sleeping, and will exit your site before they have even the slightest chance to see what you have to offer.

Not Using Meta Tags: Most of the top search engines use meta tags to list what your site is about when search results are displayed. There are many tools available to assist in creating proper meta-tags. Without correct Title and Description tags your site will not be properly indexed in the engines, and you will be making it much harder for people to find you. Creating and adding proper meta tags is definitely worth the time required to get it right.

Not Sending A Clear Message: Don't make your visitors guess who you are and what you are offering them. Use your headline and the first couple of paragraphs to make it perfectly clear what you are offering that will solve your visitors needs. Phrases like "welcome to" And "congratulations, you've found" are over used and really serve no purpose. If you want to thank your visitor for their time and visit. Do it at the end of your page when they are leaving your site. You might even consider designing a short message and using a script style font for you signature at the end of your page.

Numeric Counters: Many visitors will view these as a sign of inexperience. Besides, do you really want people to know if your traffic hasn't been the greatest lately. However, keeping accurate records of traffic statistics on your site is extremely valuable. Investigate what stats, logs and records your hosting company can provide for you. If they do not furnish the required information, search out one of the many sites which collects this data for you. Many services offer free counters which will collect basic traffic statistics while showing a small image you may place in the lower bottom corner of your page. Caution: some of these counter are not password protected, allowing anyone to access your traffic statistics. Even your competition. And believe me when I say, your competition is looking.

Hiding Behind your Web Site: Allow me to say this again. Marketing on the Internet is greatly about creditability. Put your contact information (email, mailing address, phone number, fax number) somewhere easily viewable on every page. Another option is to create an "About us or Contact us" page listing your contact information. This helps establish credibility, and lets your visitors know you're a real person willing to assist them should they have any questions or comments concerning your product or service.

Typos: Proofread your copy, and then have two or three friends do it too. Spell check may not catch all errors, and misspelled and misused words hurt your credibility as a businessperson.

Browser Incompatibility: Check your web site with a variety of browsers and window sizes. And don't say, "this site was designed to be viewed with such and such browser". Ask yourself this. Would you stop what you are doing to go download and install a new browser just to view a certain website? My answer - NOT Likely! - So why on earth would you want to alienate the rest of the online population? They might be interested in your product or service, but if they can't view your site, they can't buy.

Yes, it can be time consuming. However, spending the time to double check your site and know that it works for everybody will add $$'s to your pocket in the long run. Also be sure that everything fits into a 600 pixel wide screen. Not everyone has sprung the bucks for a large monitor, and it is irritating to scroll back and forth across the screen. Just check that your text word wraps and all will be great no matter what size monitor they are using.

Poorly Designed Navigation: Your visitors must be able to make their way through your site, without getting lost or confused, or they will simply click off your site and never return. Being consistent with your navigation is also extremely important: If you have a side bar with navigation buttons on your home page, put it on every page. Also consider having a row of plain text links to all the pages on your site at the bottom of every page. Help people get around your site. The clearer you make your navigation system the longer your visitors will tend to stay on your site. You might even consider placing all of your info on one page if your site contains only one or two products or services.

Too Many Options: If you are involved with several programs consider dividing each program into it's own web site. Don't confuse people by giving them too many choices. Think about the one (or maybe two) things you want them to do on your site, and seriously consider getting rid of everything else. At the very least make sure you give them a minimum of choices per page, and organize your site very carefully.

Really "cool and fancy" Backgrounds: Yes, there are literally thousands of really cool background images to be had for free. Resist the temptation and don't use them as the main background of your site. Keep the graphics to the side, or use nested tables, so that your text is black on white. Not terribly exciting, but very readable, and that is what you really want. And do keep it consistent - a different background for every page can be confusing and distracting. Surely you want your visitor to be paying attention to your text, not distracted by the constantly changing background image.

Hard To Read Fonts: Make sure your fonts are of a readable size, style and color. If you decide to use colored text for emphasis, don't overdo it - it looks unprofessional. If you are running a business, try to stick to fonts that are clear and easy to read (veranda is good) - you can show your personality by your style of writing - just be certain your visitors can easily read your content. Typing in all caps is another major mistake - it's harder to read, slows people down, and some of your visitors will consider it "shouting" and very rude. If you are attempting to draw additional attention to a particular product or service, or want to empathize something, simply bold it or put it in a different color.

Not Taking Advantage Of Headlines: Spend some time with your headline, and try out different wording. You may be pleasantly surprised how a couple of changed words might increase your sales. Just because you have a headline that is working doesn't mean you can't improve on it. Keep a log of responses for a couple of weeks. Make a subtle change in your heading and check it for the next 2 week period. If it improves great, if not try something else. Never let your web pages go stale. You need to constantly tweak your pages. As an extra bonus, most search engines love sites that are periodically updated.

No Testimonials: Testimonials are likely the most powerful sales tool you could ask for. Take advantage of your thank you letters which you send to your customers. When you write to your buyers, ask for a testimonial. If you're just getting started, consider offering a free sample of your product or service in exchange for a testimonial - the advertising will well be worth the small investment! And always request permission to use their real names -other wise it tends to look like you made it up.

Focus On Features Instead of Benefits: Just think of surfers as a self centered bunch (they really aren't) but think in that form. What can this site do for Me today? Stress how your product or service will make life easier or more enjoyable for your visitor. Your web site shouldn't be about your product (or service), it should be about how your product/service will solve the visitor's needs or desires.

Not Building a Contact List: Develop a newsletter, offer an article via auto responder, have a contest, do what it takes, but get your visitors email addresses. That list can be a goldmine. You can mail them about updates to your site, new products; recommend other products (for a percentage of the sales). Send them helpful bits of information - win their trust - and many of them will buy the things you recommend.

No Guarantee: Remember, on the Internet you do not have the ability to meet face to face with your visitors. They can't see you and many are still skeptical of making purchases on the Internet. You Must make the visitor as comfortable as possible with ordering from your web site. Emphasize no-risk, hassle- free 100% money back guarantee. And make the guarantee policy for as long as possible. If you give them a year to try it out, they're much less likely to return it than in a month. If they have to hurry and try it in a month, they may be more critical, and more likely to return it. A strong, long-term guarantee will usually not increase your returns, but actually increase your sales.

Problems with the Ordering Process: I don't know of many situations which will send an Internet customer running and screaming for cover than a check out page which is difficult to understand or even worse does not operate at all. Your check out page Absolutely Must be encrypted (secure) and as easy understand and operate as possible. If you've got your reader's to the point of purchasing, don't let anything get in the way. Find a way to take credit cards online, and if you're selling a downloadable product, figure out how to redirect your new customer to the download page as soon as the transaction is completed. Never forget, Internet surfers have a reputation for wanting instant gratification. After all, isn't that what makes all this high speed access so wonderful?

Not Asking For It: I am always amazed at the number of sites which are well designed, informative, and have a great sales pitch. They get you all excited and ready to jump in. Then they don't ask for your money. You just gotta Ask for the sale . Ask them to bookmark your site. Ask them to tell a friend, subscribe to your newsletter, whatever. Sometimes they just need a little push, so push! Be polite, but still give them that last push.

Broken Links: Keep track of all your out going links, especially when you are marketing affiliate programs. Everyone makes changes to their sites while attempting to improve traffic, popularity, and sales. Visitors hitting a dead link will not only send your prospective buyer running for cover it may also be instrumental in dropping of your hard won search engine ranking. For every dead link found by an engine robot your site loses valuable points required to improve your listing with the search engine. So monitor all your out going links and keep them pointing to the appropriate web pages.