Earlier this month, we wrote about things to think about before starting a website project.
What about things to watch out for? Here are some pitfalls we advise clients to be aware of.
#1 Forgetting your goals and your customer
Echoes of the previous post, but a quick reminder to keep your business goals and your ideal customer central to any website project. If you forget them, you risk having a beautiful website that doesn’t achieve your goals or reach your customers or clients.
#2 Believing “build it and they will come”
Believing your site will be found without help will cost you time and money. With so much competition out there, you need a strategy for getting people to your site.
Consider whether you’ll drive traffic by:
- Engaging your network
- Being active on social media
- Deploying your loyal customer base
- Sharing a deep and expert blog and content strategy
- Being the only provider in your space
The answer is likely to be a combination of these.
Think about how your site will be found and put a plan in place to ensure it gets the attention it deserves.
#3 Planning a website with no keyword strategy
Sending a site live without a set of keywords will negatively affect your site’s reach. Take a few minutes to establish which search expressions will help your site be found online. It’ll pay huge dividends over time.
To get started, what does your ideal customer type into a search engine to find you? They’re looking for you, they want to find you. What do they type? Making a list of these words and phrases is one of the steps to a keyword strategy.
#4 Photographs that aren’t up to the job
Photography is key in a website project and you can tackle it in a number of ways. What doesn’t work:
- Very small or low-resolution photos
- Dark or blown out photos
- Too many square or portrait photos
Ideally, engage a professional who can create some shots you’ll love and that will sell for you every day.
If that’s not in the budget right now, assess whether you could use stock photography. It’s less personal, it’s not you, but it can work in some circumstances, especially to supplement if you have some photos but not enough.
Or you could do your own photography. Get a friend or contact to take pictures of you. Have you got enough lighting to make your products pop? Take some pictures and have a look at them up on a large screen. Would you buy? Are they good enough to get started with?
#5 Domain names are locked for 60 days
It’s easy to get excited – it’s exciting! – and buy your domain name when you’re looking to start a website project.
Did you know domain names are locked to their new owner and can’t be transferred again for 60 days? If you’re going to let your developer host and manage the website for you, this can cause delays when it comes to sending a new site live.
Top tip: It’s usually cheaper and it’s less work for you to have the developer host in the long run.
You’ve worked on dodging these pitfalls. What’s next?
If you’d like our expert and professional web design help, please contact us for an informal chat. We’ll offer our advice and ideas and you’ll get a sense of us. If we’re the right fit, we’ll get started on a new website for your small business.