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Top 21 Mistakes to Avoid When Planning Your New Website
By Glen Graham | May 20, 2009
1. Not consulting with a web designer in the planning stages of your website.
( usually by the time I sit with a client they have already made a few costly mistakes because they made decisions on their own with out seeking the advice of a professional web designer. )
2. Don’t focus on the look of your page in the beginning
(while the appearance of a website is important attention should be paid to functionality and visitor interaction .)
3. Hiring A weekend web designer
(Avoid web designers that deliver pizzas on the weekdays and create websites on the weekend. It’s tempting to hire these types, their rates are cheap and they are always available until they get your money .)
4. Don’t take your coming soon page lightly.
(A coming soon page should not only alert a site’s visitors of your site launch, but should also peak your visitors curiosity. Think of your coming soon page as a movie trailer “why would a visitor tell a friend to visit your site”. A well designed coming soon page should also be interactive, you can achieve this goal by incorporating an online form that allows visitors the option of leaving their email so they can be alerted of the site launch.)
5. Not listening to the web designer
(If you hire a professional to do a job listen to his/her recommendations. I have been in countless situations where a client takes the advice from every one except the person that matters.)
6. Trying to freestyle your design
(Freestyling a design is coming up with designs off the top of your head. This is a frustrating way to have a website designed because the end result always looks thrown together.)
7. Supplying your web designer with poor quality images and graphics.
(The quality and overall professional look of a website depends on the quality of the assets you supply to the web designer. There is a phrase I heard an associate designer use He said” garbage in garbage out” If you supply me with sub par graphics and assets you will get a sub par website. There for use a professional when adding photography, videos etc to your site.
8. Not providing a clear message to a designer with re guards to direction.
( If you have no idea what you want then neither will your web designer..)
9. Not responding to your designer’s questions in a timely fashion
(Part of a websites development is good communication between web designer and client via email or phone. So it’s important that a designer not wait around for long periods of time for you to make decisions.)
10. Building crazy navigation.
( Some clients try to get creative with the navigation on a website, even if it means confusing the visitor. You can be creative with navigation as long as it makes sense.)
11. Not providing enough information about your company.
(Providing important information about your business , products and services should not be and after thought in the website’s design process. )
12. Failing to provide examples of sites that are similar to what you want created.
(Every client wants to believe that there is no site out there similar to what they want created. Even if that is true find a site that is similar to what you want created. Most web-designers, graphic artists are visual people providing an example will help the process.)
13. A Myspace , Facebook and Twitter a pages are not websites
(Put simply Myspace, Facebook Twitter etc will never be considered personal websites.
These sites are free and it will send a message to clients that you don’t believe enough in your product or services to invest money.)
14. Don’t use free web hosting
(Free web hosting means limited tech support and those tacky ads and promotions plastered all over your site.)
15. Waiting to the last minute to start on your website.
(It’s stressful enough building a new website but having the added stress of knowing that your website could possibly be viewed by millions ,and trying to do it last minute is enough to drive you crazy. I had a client that waited a week before hiring me to build her website, she knew a month in advance she was selected to have her business featured on the news. It was her first website and with all the stress she had a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized for two days. )
16. Not being straight with a web designer about your budget
(Before contacting a designer have an amount in mind that you can afford. It does not mean that it will be a realistic number but it let’s a designer know how much you have to work with. This will save you more time than being mysterious. Also a designer will be able to tell you what you can get for that price.)
17. Not knowing why you are building a website
(If you don’t know why you are building a website you should not have one.)
18. Wanting no part of the web design process.
(The web design process is a collaborative effort between the client and web designer. Both partners should have some level of involvement in the process.)
19. Don’t try to build your own site if you are unwilling to invest the time and effort to do it properly
(In my seven years of building websites I have come across two websites that non web designers have created that I found both professional and impressive. Unfortunately that is not the case with the hundreds of others I have seen . Put simply don’t try to build your own site if you are unwilling to invest the time and effort to do it properly . The less you know about building a website the more time you need to spend doing the research and building the best site you can.)
20. Failure to launch
( A common problem I encounter with many first time website owners is, they drive them selves insane trying to anticipate how friends, family,clients will react to their website. My advice is to have the website built upload it to a test server. Have a few trusted friends and associates look the site over get their feedback make corrections, then launch the website. What’s cool about a website is unlike printed materials where after a point all changes are final a website’s changes can be made over time.
21. Not promoting your site
( One of the biggest mistakes is not getting the word out about your website. You need to actively promote your site. May be I’ll cover that topic in my next blog post.)
Feel free to add any mistakes that you have experienced as a new website owner..
Stumble it!
Topics: Advice |