4 Ways Business Websites Fail

Copyright (c) 2012 Matt Gallagher

Working in the web design field comes with visiting a lot of websites everyday, and a big percentage of these site are mostly business websites I'm either hired to renew, or I just visit them for other reasons. And these experiences made me realize how a big percentage of business websites fail to have the desired effect, which would be creating a brand for the company/individual, convincing visitors that they are at the right place for the desired product/service, increasing conversions, and therefore generating business. So, I collected the top mistakes that make a website fail in achieving the wanted results. If you have a business and have, or planning to have a web page, read this first.

I collected the top mistakes that make a website fail in achieving the wanted results.

1.) Outdated coding

Yes. Having an up-to-date, or at least not dated coding under your website is not something that only expert web developers should care about. I have seen at least 20 lawyer websites only today which had so out dated HTML coding that the website simply did not show up correctly. It wasn't just that it did not look professional or "cool", the page just crashed. After I've found out that some of them used 7-9 year old coding standards, I was not surprised. A website like that can have a horrible effect on your look as an expert. I can have a message that you're not practicing anymore, or simply satisfied with mediocre results. If you still carry around the 10 year old thought that says "Oh, if I people can find my contact info on my website, than it's enough to me." , please, think again. A terrible looking amateurish poster for a movie is worse than not having a poster at all.

2.) Horrible readability

One would think that choosing the correct background and text colors is not something you need a web design degree for, but I'm surprised that how big percentage of websites have an almost unreadable color selection. A lot of times I need to press CTRL+A in my browser to make the whole page selected, so I can read what's there. There are big differences between a hobbyst and a professional web designer when it comes to optimizing website colors. Because, that is the part of the design process which causes the problem here. A website may have good readability on your designer's display, but what if his/her display has 40% more contrast or brightness than other displays? I'll tell you. The page may be perfectly readable there, and it fails everywhere else.

3.) A buggy contact form

To be honest, I look at this as a sign of unprofessionality, and not just on the developer's side, also the owner's. You and your business just can not afford not receiving a message from a prospect. Life is about opportunities, and what kind of message do you send to someone who tries to contact you, only to not receiving a single word back? Because a lot of times, the visitor will click the "Submit" button, and thinks that you got the mail. He or she will not understand what a PHP error means, so will assume that you got the mail. What happens, is that a potential customer sends you a message, not getting an answer, forming a negative opinion about you, without you knowing anything about what happened. You can not afford a buggy contact form.

With those buggy contact forms, what happens, is that a potential customer forms a negative opinion about you. Without you knowing it.

4.) A bad look that is not designed to gain profit

Some of them look like it was made 10 years ago. I'm not saying that every business in your field of industry needs a modern looking design, I say that YOURS does. Seriously, I want my clients to SUCCEED with their websites. Instead of asking: "Why me as a lawyer/mechanic/chef/restaurant owner/businessman/actor need that modern design for my website?" , ask "What reason I have to not crush my competition with a top-notch online presence?". That's the perspective that will get you where you want to be. If you doubt my theory, then next time you go to a store watch what food products are able to grab your attention. The one that may taste good but is packaged in pure white paper with a boring look, or the one with a professional logo, a catchy phrase and a nice package? It's another question which one tastes better, but the last one will have more chance to prove.

What reason you have to NOT crush your competition with a top-notch online presence?

These are the 4 most common ways I see how business websites fail. If your website makes some of these mistakes, I suggest you to take action.

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