Web Site Development Five Mistakes
Web Site Development Five Mistakes
"Thanks for all your help with our website and your
suggestions. We get so many comments on our web site.
Web reservations are going great. Your other marketing
advice is working well too!"
Thanks
-Kathy, Innkeeper
Inn at The Rostay, Bethel, Maine
...And Why These Mistakes Could Cost You a
Fortune!
Huge Mistake #1: Creating a Website
with so many bells and whistles most cannot view it
before the click away (you have 7 seconds before
they click away)!
In a recent study, top Internet marketers discovered
that having a website created with heavy Flash, actually
decreased the response from
prospects and customers by as much as 370 percent!
Why: Your prospects and customers
are most likely visiting your website using all
types of different computers, connection speeds and
Internet configuration settings. (Note: as of July 2008:
55% of US homes have Internet access and
79% of those have some type of hi-speed
broadband access).
What may look great to one visitor may not even
appear for another (many browsers have there flash
turned off and in March 2008 one major Travel Portal
which just spent millions on a new flash site is
converting back to an html site as business is off
so much)! You could very easily have shelled out
thousands of dollars to have a website created using
the Flash technology, only to find out that some of
your visitors will never see it! (Not to mention the
loading times can cause your visitor to close your
site, never to return again.)
We can create flash segments to your web site but
recommend these be done with care.
Huge Mistake #2: The "Internet
Catalog" Approach
You see this all the time. Businessmen and women get
online to sell their products or services, and have
a site created for them that contains a link to
everything they offer on one page. Their thinking
goes along the lines of, "...well, I don't want to
leave anyone out. If they come to my site, I want to
make sure I have what they're looking for..." Of
course this way of thinking could not be further
from the truth.
Here's why: There's an ancient rule that goes back
to the very beginning of direct-marketing on the
internet, taught by the richest, most legendary and
well-respected Internet marketers of all time... "When
you give your prospects too many choices, they
become confused and aren't sure what to do next.
Confused people never buy anything."
Huge Mistake #3: Optimizing Your
Sales Site for the
Search Engines
You see this taught in nearly every "Internet
marketing" course, manual or eBook out there... "You
must optimize every page of your website for the
search engines!"
Unfortunately certain words and phrases must be
either re-worded (to make it "keyword rich") or
taken out completely, just to be looked upon highly
by the mighty search engines -- and this could kill
your sales, literally overnight.
Here's why: When you or a hired web designer
optimize your sales page (i.e. any web page designed
to sell your products and services) to get a higher
listing in the search engines, you're going to have
to sacrifice the pulling-power of your sales copy
(i.e. written sales material) just to get those
higher listings. Sure, this can bring you more
traffic -- but what good is all the traffic in the
world, if your visitors arrive at your website and
aren't compelled enough to read why they should
order your product?
If funds are limited you must try to find a
"balance" of SEO (Search-Engine-Optimization) mixed
with promotional copy designed to sell your products
and services.
But even better would be to create tiny "entry
pages" for each keyword related to your product or
service, (highly optimized for the Search Engines)
and have them link to your main sales site! (We can
show you exactly how to do this quickly and easily
and get *massive* targeted traffic from the Search
Engines - without ever touching your sales site!)
Huge Mistake #4: Having a
"Graphics-Based" Website
Sure, in an age where only 20 percent of your
browsers will read your copy strong graphics are
critical... But in error were many surf the web with
graphics turned off having a
100% graphically-driven website can actually distract
your visitor away from your sales message?
Once you have hooked them with a pleasing graphic, your sales message (or "web copy") is The
#-1 most important factor in a website that closes
the sale and actually makes you
money. If your visitors are paying more attention to
your "professional graphics" than your sales
message... you've just lost another sale.
You've got
approximately seven seconds
from the time your visitor arrives at your site, to
the time they decide whether to buy your product,
get more information or leave. If you've got a
graphically-intensive website, your website will
most likely still be loading past your seven-second
time limit.
That's a "customer-killer" in and of itself -
however, the real reason lies within the fact that
the bigger, brighter and more beautiful your
graphics are, the more they will distract your
visitor from your sales message. And if your visitor
is distracted even for one second, it could mean the
difference between getting a sale, and losing a
customer.
Huge Mistake #5: Designing a
Website with Zero Marketing Experience
Most web designers have no idea how to make money on
the Internet, with anything other than their design
services. It's not their fault - they simply have no
or very little marketing and sales experience. After
all, they're just website designers...
However, having your website designed by someone
with Zero internet marketing experience is like
buying a street-car without an engine... it won't go
anywhere, and it'll just waste your time and money!