Avoid These Common Web Business Mistakes

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Mistakes are going to be made – especially by those of you just starting out into the online business world. However, there are a few things you can do to prepare your business ahead of time in order to avoid long-term headaches.

An ill-conceived domain name
Your domain name is important. Many business owners make the mistake of neglecting keywords or failing to consider how easy their domain name will be to remember, spell and type into their browser. Make sure to spend time researching and even testing your chosen domain name.

This is a big one. When we started “Good Plum” – we debated about it for a long time. Should we selected a keyword-rich term or a special term with meaning to us – and then build a brand around that. We choose the later.

Slow page load times
Flash, dynamic web pages and images that take up too much memory are the major causes of slow download times. The general rule of thumb is to make sure your images are no larger than 10-15KB. Why is this so important? Your web visitors are impatient people. We’re accustomed to getting instant gratification online, and if a web page takes too long to load, you’ll lose people as they click away.

Neglecting traffic generation strategies
In this day and age it’s silly to expect that just because you have a website means people will automatically visit it. It’s the old “if you build it, they will come” mistake. To have a successful web business, traffic generation tactics are essential. Some strategies to generate traffic include:

* Social networking
* Content marketing
* PPC advertising
* Keyword research and SEO tactics

Messy, difficult to read websites
Website design is crucial. A website that is jam packed with banner ads, unusual and difficult to read fonts, too many colors and distractions will cause your website visitors to leave quickly. Your prospects and customers want an easy to navigate website where everything they want is easy to find. Your website takes their needs into consideration by not barraging them with graphics, advertisements and difficult to read content.

Some entrepreneurs swear that it’s important to hire a fulltime graphic designer as one of your first employees. A clean, consistant brand is that important.

Unclear products and/or services
Have you ever been to a website where you have no idea what they do or provide? Many small business owners make this mistake; they neglect to inform their audience right away, on their landing page, about what they have to offer. Make sure your USP, unique selling proposition, is clear, easy to understand, and available right on your landing page.

Shopping Cart Issues
Abandoned shopping carts are problematic for any business owner. The reason this happens is usually quite apparent. Not enough information about the shopping cart process, requiring too much information (like forcing shoppers to register) and a difficult to understand shopping cart system can all cause people to change their minds and click away – lost sales! Make your purchasing process easy to understand and follow through. Make sure you have a FAQ page to answer commonly asked questions.

A great way to keep on eye on this is to actually make a purchase yourself every now and then. I know, crazy right? You’d be suprised how many small AND large companies neglect actually using their cart and checkout to see how easy or difficult it is.

Out of date content
Content is an essential aspect of any ebusiness. It helps drive traffic, it provides value and it helps establish you as a credible authority in your industry. If you neglect to provide a constant source of up to date information, all of your business will suffer. You’ll lose traffic and search engine page ranking, your customers and prospects will stop seeking information on your website and you’ll lose credibility. Create a solid content strategy that will ensure you provide regular, valuable content all year long.

Poor customer service
You’ve likely heard the phrase that it’s cheaper to keep a customer than to get a new one. Good customer service, which includes easy to find contact information, a prompt response time and a FAQ page to address common questions and issues, will go a long way toward keeping your customers. Ticket systems, online chat, and autoresponders are all options to improve your customer service.

Owning and growing a web business is a lot of work, but it can be rewarding and profitable if you make sure to steer clear of these common mistakes. To your success!