Mistakes to avoid when building and/or maintaining your web site.

Mistake number 1 - Rely on only 1 source of visitors to your site.

Relying only search engines or only business card referrals is not enough. Incorporate multiple streams of visitors including SEM <search engine marketing> (in the beginning), SEO <search engine optimization>, social networking, print and other related advertising, link campaigns, and of course word of mouth.

Mistake number 2 - Treat the launch of your web site as a 1 day event.

It can take years to successfully build a web site. There is content building, links to set up, layout and flow, establishing your writing style, establishing relationships with those to be connected to and deciding certain communities to align with.

Mistake number 3 - Tell EVERYTHING about yourself.

This is your chance to catch some interest with prospective clients, not to do a core dump from your hard drive onto your web site. You don’t need to tell your visitors EVRYTHING about YOU and your business. Leave something for them to call or email to get more information on.

Mistake number 4 - The WALL OF TEXT……..all text all the time!

People “scan the web”, they don’t read it.  Content is important and how that content is laid out is probably as important as the content itself. Break content up with clear easy to understand headings. Use question style headings and then provide the answers.

Incorporate video or a talking heads into your site to break up the monotony of all text (no matter how well displayed). Bring life to your site and personalize it engaging with your visitors!

Mistake number 5 - Flashy overloaded graphics with no substance.

Not as big of a problem as it was a few years ago, but still, too many creators of web sites have big flashy lights, colors and images that they “think” will draw visitors in but actually end up deterring them form staying any longer than they have to. If you do have something “eye catching” assure it has substance to support it. Then you should be okay.

Mistake number 6 - Too many widgets, not enough content.

Seems like today every web site offers a widget of some sort.  More and more sites are becoming collections of widgets rather than a resource of unique content.

Mistake number 7 - Over crowding - Too much stuff.

Similar to 3 and a little of 4 and 6, too much information. Too much text, graphics, widgets, menu bars or flashy graphics just clutters up your page. Be sparse and thoughtful when laying out design templates and avoid the “constant” urges to put anything and EVERYTHING you like on your web site.