1. Lack of a key message to deliver to your audience
Most of the time, you make the website from available information you have without a goal. Instead, be clear and specific about what you’re hoping to achieve and what you need your website to do before you get started. Think about who your audience is. Defining who your website is for will make it easier to create a focused, successful website.
Every small business website is different because every one serves a different purpose. If you want your first business website to be a portal for people to buy products, you need to build it around that goal. If you want it to provide information and entice potential clients to call you, you have to build it with that goal in mind. A website without a clear purpose will only cost you time and money while providing little, if any, benefit.
2. Poor Visual Design and navigation
Most of the time, you may just put in everything without considering the visual design and navigation. Paring down your items so they fit, it makes 99% of websites look better, and makes it easier for customers to find what they need.
3. Poor ranking on search engine
Lots of people skip this step because they assume SEO is too advanced for them. Sure, there are some things in life you should be an expert in before you do it yourself (surgery and haircutting come to mind), but SEO isn’t one of them. If you fill in your Site Title, Page Titles, and Page Descriptions for each page (here’s how), you can give yourself a huge pat on the back.
4. Select a hard-to-memory domain name.
Choose a domain name that’s easy to spell. Also, Its-best-to-avoid-hyphens.com. When you opt for a paid subscription, you get a custom domain (website address) and no ads or logos will appear on your site—and these both signal to your visitors that you take your website (and business) seriously.
5. Low quality images
Stretching a low-quality photo into a large image is sort of like trying to comb over a bald spot. You can try, but it’s not going to look very good. Seeing as that opening image is the first impression the viewer will get, why settle for mediocre? How much will it cost you if you don’t have quality pictures, a good photography is worth.
6. Slow download speed
There is little more annoying than waiting for something to load. Worse, Google will actually penalise you in the rankings for this! Large image files and bad site structure are common causes, Cut your file sizes down and use a CMS system that automatically improve a lot.
7. No sitemap
Take the time to create a sitemap, It’s like reading a recipe all the way through before you start cooking—it may seem boring, but it will also help your search engine ranking.
8. Bad layout on mobile phones and tablets
A desktop website will look bad on mobile phones and tablets because of smaller screeen size. Design your website to be responsive, so your website will automatically adjust to fit the size of someone’s screen. Even so, it’s a good idea to double-check using View Mode—and also to make sure your font is large enough so that everyone can comfortably read it.
9. Security issues and no SSL certificate
Security is one of the most commonly overlooked aspects of any business website; until you get a major security scare! Hackers and cyber-criminals can give any company a headache, but sadly many organisations only realise the true value of security following a difficult or costly episode. A lesser known but valuable step is obtaining an SSL certificate. In a nutshell, this is a way of keeping your customers safe during transactions.
10. Misuse of fonts and colors
Wrong picking of fonts and colors for headings and body text and that make your site inconsistent and complicated.
Building the business website, you have made an important first step. But a company’s website is never really complete. Addition or change is needed as your business grows and changes. Adapt to things like SEO and mobile designs. And always remember to fit your and your customers’ needs continuously.
