Whether you create a hobby site or a business site; the key is to attract as many people to your home page as possible.
Once they visit your website for the first time you want to leave a professional and inspiring experience.
When I built my first website I made all of the common mistakes and quickly learned how to turn the mistakes into correct attributes of my website.
Top 5 Common Mistakes When Building Your First Website: Common Mistake #1 A website that has just been developed and uploaded to the internet should never be advertised and ranked while being incomplete.
You do not want visitors clicking on your pages that are half completed.
Even though many people justify "at least my home page is up and the website is 80% created.
" This will not suffice most visitors.
It makes you look as if your website was put on the back burner and you gave up on time.
Staying motivated and completing your website will show others that you are professional and on top of your game.
Common Mistake #2 A website that is developed with too much advertising can detour visitors.
Advertising is useful and creates opportunities and is great to market products, services, advice, downloads, or other types of social media.
The key is to not let it be the focal point of your pages.
Too much advertising makes your pages cumbersome and hard to know your purpose.
This common mistake can cost you visitors, money, and frustration.
Common Mistake #3 Never publish information that you are not sure of the source or content.
There are those in the world of internet information that post inaccurate content that was either not verified or frankly was incorrect to the article or page posted.
An example: If you were to publish an article about "how to train a Jack Russell Terrier" and yet you have never owned or trained a Jack Russell; it would be very transparent to the viewers that you may not know what you are talking about.
Be careful with advice, knowledge, and instructions when posting; it will accomplish two things for you:
- Builds Credibility with you and your websites
- Creates a following that help others from your information
This is a fact that is sometimes hard to get around.
When a website appears and there is no color, shapes, logos, photos, or any other unique attributes; it can detour the visitor from exploring more of your website.
Especially now with all of the media options and software programs available; it is almost required to have something that will keep the visitors coming back to your website.
The key is to balance graphics with text.
You don't want to overwhelm the viewer but give enough to bring a positive experience while on your website.
A nice front page with earth tones or photos that relate to your bullet points are a great start.
Common Mistake #5 Websites that try to sell products more than their service will not succeed.
Have you ever been on a website that is promoting software or a product that they claim you cannot live without? This is common when dealing with high pressure loaded websites.
It is tempting to put some pressure on people to want your goods or services because you want business right? Never Pressure Anyone! A great way to lose your credibility and success is to use tactics that persuade people through sneaky tactics and agendas.
An example is price dropping without expiration: You go to a website and decide not to purchase the software or product they are offering at the bottom; you get this pop up window that is a "hook" that states: WAIT; Are you sure you don't want this Super Duper Whoopee Big Deal Item; If you buy now we will Cut the Price in half!!! 7 Hours 10 Minutes to decide!!! These tactics do get sales and can help your bottom line; but they do not help you stay true to old school marketing.
There is nothing wrong with offering 50% off if they purchase today.
You better make sure that you do not allow the same deal tomorrow be the next 30 day without being honest.
It looks desperate! These are basic but crucial tips that will help you create a professional website.