Common Website Mistakes

Create a business website in today’s age

Even customers looking to buy something in-person these days will often times base their decisions on what they see when visiting your site. This is why having a top-of-the-line website is so crucial to a company’s success.

1. Building the website yourself

Wix and Squarespace – these website-building software all claim to be super easy to use, when in reality they’re not. It takes more to creating a professional website than fiddling with a couple images here and there and getting a cool template. With how important your company website is to your business’ success, it’s usually worth paying the extra couple thousand dollars to hire professionals to create your website instead of doing a crummy job yourself.

2. Having a confusing domain name

Some business owners make life hard for themselves by using domain names that don’t match their company names or ones that don’t end in .com, .org, or .net. While it’s hard to lock in a domain name that will win over more business, it can definitely lose you business if customers simply get confused with your site’s name.

3. Having no color scheme

Top notch websites all have color signatures that visitors can identify with and relate back to the business. For instance, Inc.com uses black and white, Netflix uses red, UPS uses its trademark brown, and H&R block uses light green. Websites with colors that are all over the place lack identity, and that can make these sites very forgettable.

4. Not responsive to different screen sizes

Your website is going to look different on your 17-inch screen laptop compared to your desktop, mobile phone, or tablet if you don’t have a responsive layout for your website. Google penalizes sites that aren’t mobile-friendly or don’t account for various screen sizes. This is one of the reasons why hiring a professional web designer is far better than doing things yourself, because you’ll likely use HTML and CSS code that isn’t responsive.

5. Not using a public website building tool

Websites built on a private proprietary platform can look just as good as ones built from WordPress. The problem lies when you need to make a small change to your site. Instead of being able to do it yourself on a user-friendly interface, you now have to depend on the original web creators to make the change for you, and they’ll charge you for their services every time.

6. No SSL

The move from “http” to “https” is a simple one, and oftentimes the move comes free of charge, depending on your website host. Not only does SSL improve your site’s speed and make it more secure for your visitors, it also increases the trustworthiness of your site which can bump up traffic and conversion rates. I would personally never give out my credit card or PayPal information to a site that doesn’t at least have SSL encryption.

7. Not optimizing for on-page SEO

Ranking highly among search results is one of the most critical ways of getting traffic to your site. Many business owners get done creating a website just to find out a couple weeks later that they’ve completed disregarded on-page SEO strategies such as using header tags properly, including keywords in titles, adding keywords frequently throughout your content, and other optimal SEO habits.

8. Burying contact information

I can’t tell you how many sites I’ve visited where I tried to find their contact information but just couldn’t. Your company phone number, email address, office location, and availability should all be easily accessible on your site. Not only does this make it easier for potential customers to ask you about your services, it also makes your whole business look way more legitimate.

9. Skipping social media links and content

If you’re creating content on your website, such as writing articles or creating videos, be sure to take advantage of the social media age we live in. Add buttons to make it easier to follow, like, share, or comment about your content. Without a social media aspect to your site, it can seem outdated and not in with the times.

10. Not understanding the core basics of creating a high-converting website

Whether it’s the site’s copy, layout, design, or overall content, there’s a certain finesse involved in creating a professional website that adequately serves the purposes of your business. Some websites simply don’t have that same “it” factor that others do, so it’s important to do your due diligence when it comes to researching how to create a business website in today’s age before actually getting started.

Hire ThePixel to build your next website!

Since our founding in 2008, we’ve created and launched many types of business websites. Over the last decade and we’ve learned a thing or two! That’s why we’re masters of our craft, let us help you build the website of your dreams – one that generates traffic, leads and conversions.

Are you ready to start? If yes, contact ThePixel and one of our representatives will guide you through the website phases and how the process works either by a Zoom Meeting or phone.