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6 Common Mistakes In Website Design That Kill Your Online Business

by Mike Spence

Some websites fare well. Others falter—and miserably at that. What's the difference? What do the successful websites do right and what do the failed websites do wrong?

The answer—or answers even—isn't difficult to fathom. There are quite a number of common mistakes that seal the fate on Internet marketers and their dreams. Here are 6 of them, which hopefully, you'd try to avoid at all cost.

1. A slow loading website. There is nothing more irritating than a website that tales forever to load. Granted that most Internet users these days have high speed connections, a great percentage are still hooked up to the World Wide Web via slower 56K access. This percentage should not be taken for granted. In building your website, try to stay away from the humongous graphic files. No, you don't need a high number of pixels. No, you don't need fancy movies or flash animation. No, you don't need catchy music. You need a website that will deliver the information it promises at an instantaneous rate, and for this reason, you have to choose functionality over design.

2. A navigation system that is very difficult to understand. If your menu bar is too complicated, you'll just end up driving away a lot of your visitors. You don't want your visitors to get stuck in just one page. You need to make it easy for them to explore your website. Your pages must be interlinked in a logical way, and this connection should be easily navigable through an intuitive interface that even a 7 year old will be able to understand. Again, this is a matter of functionality over design. Place your navigation links either at the top of the page right below the header, or at either side of the page in a separate column. This is where your visitors' eyes will wander once they want to discover the other pages in your website.

3. Low quality content. Content is king on the Internet. People log online to find information they need, and information is conveyed through your content. If your content is poorly written, who will have the patience to read the same? If your content is not unique, why will people choose your website over others? Indeed, there are two requisites for good quality content: excellent presentation and originality. Minus either of this, your entire website will be in jeopardy.

4. Poor choice of keywords to focus on. Keywords drive traffic to your website. Keywords are the terms that people search for when they're looking for information. If you targeted the right keywords, quality visitors will come aplenty. If you targeted the wrong keywords, visitors will be scarce. So make sure you discover the right keywords even before you start building your website.

5. Cookie cutter websites. Again, this is a matter of originality—or the lack of it. Why would people choose your website over thousands of others sharing the same layout and boasting of the same content? What makes your website special? If these questions cannot be answered positively, then your online business is doomed. Worse, search engines penalize duplicate content, and your website will have a lower position in the search engine results.

6. A website that lacks focus. Focus is key in designing a website. It will be difficult for a website to focus on several, unrelated topics. Why would visitors who are interested with dogs be interested with astronomy? There's no connection between the 2 subjects, and if your website caters to these topics, among others, then prepare for some rough sailings ahead.

These are the things you should try to avoid. Your online business depends on how well your website fares. So take some time to think about how you can properly build your website.

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