3 Big Mistakes Small Business Owners Make With Their Website

It is a well known fact that website visitors will judge you and your business in a matter of seconds. Your website is a representation of what you do and who you are. A poorly designed or hard to understand website is a bad reflection on your business, and most potential customers will simply leave and never come back.

As a small business owner and Local Internet Marketing consultant I am constantly looking at websites put up by small business owners trying to claim their piece of the online pie.

I was recently on Craigs List the other day looking for a local plumber and I came upon an ad that had a link to a website. When I clicked on the link to learn more about this plumber I came upon a website so poorly designed and riddled with spelling errors that it was obvious that this person made their own website with some discount do it yourself service. My first impression was a bad one and I quickly left the website and continued my search.

Now, this plumber may be a very good one and is on a tight budget, so he decided to do his own website to save money. But… he may be hurting himself business wise because the website creates an image in the viewers mind that he is sloppy and unprofessional. I personally did not call him.

Your website is a direct reflection of you and your business. What you put in front of people sends a direct message about who you are and what you do. I understand that many small business owners have very tight budgets and are tired of dealing with, website designers and internet marketing companies quoting them thousands of dollars for a simple website.

Before you put up a website please avoid these common mistakes many small business owners make.

Top 3 Mistakes small business owners make with their website:

1. Doing it yourself with some cheap “do it yourself web editor”. We see these websites all the time. I give people credit for trying to get a website up but, it does you more harm when the site looks like an amateur put it up.

It is usually full of typos, is laid out with uneven tables, and has no solid structure. Your potential customers are left with a bad impression of your business.Your website should be laid out in an easy to follow format with a clear purpose of what you want to accomplish and what you want the viewer to do next.

2. Having a friend do it for you. You may know someone that has some web building experience that can put together a decent looking website. The problem is,  they usually have no idea about SEO and design websites that have no chance of ever being seen in the search engines.

Another problem is, although well intentioned, these friendly gestures often end up in frustration when the website builder cannot respond quickly to changes or stay on top of the latest code changes. I have done countless website analysis for small business owners where a friend or relative did the site and are now nowhere to be found when it comes to updates.

3. Paying a web designer thousands of dollars for stuff you don’t need. Many small business owners know that they need a website and end up with a overly creative high priced designer that just loads it up with unnecessary stuff to justify the cost. Slow loading Flash presentations (that search engines hate), useless pages just taking up space, and most importantly no clue about SEO.

So you end up paying thousands of dollars for a website that does not pull for you.  You end up either redoing the website, or hiring an SEO consultant like us and we end up redoing it so it will be search engine friendly.

Your website is a living document. It should be updated frequently and under constant scrutiny to ensure that it is performing well in the search engines and getting viewers to take action. Ten years ago it was cool to tell people you had a website. But, today with traditional advertising dieing a slow death it is more important then ever to have a web presence because that’s where your customers are.

The number one reason most small business owners don’t have a website.

It costs way too much money! There are over 13 million small businesses in the US that still do not have a website.Most of these are companies with 1-20 employees with very tight budgets. They would like to have a website but they keep running into these overpriced web designers charging thousands of dollars, when all they need is a simple 4-5 page website.

You don’t need fancy flash presentations. In fact, those fancy looking websites usually perform very poorly because it is a distraction to the viewer. People want to know who you are, what you offer, and why they should choose you. They don’t care about fancy flash presentations, loud blaring music, or buttons that make noise when you click on them. Some website designers will tell you otherwise to justify their high prices.

The fact is…. having a website in today’s highly competitive market is no longer a option, it is a necessity!

The times are changing fast. Yellow pages are dead, newspapers are losing readers in droves and most traditional marketing has given way to Local Searches online. The need to be online has never been greater and the businesses that do not take action may find themselves in big trouble as their competitors that are online start stealing their customers right from their own backyard.

We have a solution for small business owners!

We created Local Goldmine with the small business owner in mind. We have taken our 15 years of internet marketing experience and created affordable programs to fit your tight budget.

We want to help small business owners create a powerful local internet footprint so they can compete online and be seen by people looking for your products and services. If you are one of those small business owners that knows you need to be online and are tired of over priced website designers and fly by night marketing schemes, we need to talk!

Just go to Local Internet Marketing right now and fill out the simple form to receive a Free consultation.