Why Do Websites Fail?… Here Are 10 Reasons Why
Perhaps you have attempted (maybe more than once) to have a website. You may have signed up late at night on one of the countless web hosting plans that are on the web and for only $12.95 you were up and running. Or maybe you went all out and hired a web designer spending a thousand dollars or more to have them build your site and shopping cart.
You dreamed of that customer hundreds of miles away logging into the Internet, searching on Google or Yahoo and easily finding your product or service. So you built your site and waited and waited.
“FAIL”, no one showed up. You haven’t even converted one single customer from your efforts and expense. You failed on the web. You joined the ranks of millions of others that have gone before and will go after you towards the website graveyard.
You are not alone. Out of the almost 56 million websites on the web, fewer than 500,000 of them have any real traffic to speak of. Let me say that another way. There are over 55 ½ million websites on the Internet that are complete failures because they have no real traffic. So if you have been one of those 55 ½ million, don’t worry, it happens to many people..
What is Website failure?
Quite simply, a website with little or no traffic is a failure. Without traffic on your site, then how could anyone ever contact you or hire you? How can they find out about your product? How would they know where you are located and that you have the exact thing that they are looking for?
Let’s examine the reasons that websites fail on the Internet and begin thinking about how we can avoid these normal pitfalls in creating our new site or revamping a current site. Below you will find the 10 main reasons that websites fail.
Fail #1. Lack of content.
In my opinion, there could not be a bigger reason of why websites fail on the Internet today than lack of real content.
Content needs to add information to the web. It needs to add value to the web and be something fresh, new, or a differing opinion. Content is writing about your particular subject or offering in such a way that it helps your rankings with the major search engines. I am talking about writing real content on your site that answer real questions. You have to remember that people on the web are looking for information, not you. When they put in a search phrase like “homes in Seattle, WA” they are looking for information, not a particular real estate agent.
Search engines will analyze your site to see if it offers answers to particular searches that are made through their services. If it does, then for that set of keywords, you may be ranked (and ultimately get more traffic.) If it doesn’t, like the great majority of sites on the web, you will never be found.
Fail #2. Lack of planning before signing up for a domain.
There are so many people that sign up for a domain by selecting domain names like, ourchurch.tv” or “bobsmithscrealty.net“.
There is almost no bigger mistake to make than to sign up for the wrong domain. Why? People on the web are not searching for things like “Bob Smith”; they are searching for “Seattle homes for sale.” And in the above example of Our Church, the domain screams, “the .org was taken, so I took the .tv that was available.” Both of these examples are big mistakes. Your domain name should answer a question that is being asked and describe your offering. It should describe action, not identity.
Fail #3. Lack of updates or proofreading.
I know that it is hard to believe, but there are lots of people who spend thousands of dollars on a website only to let it sit there and do nothing for them.
I cannot tell you how many sites I have visited with glaring mistakes in language, verb usage or vocabulary. I have seen the English language torn apart on supposedly professional websites. I have visited sites with tons of broken links instantly turning me away, never to come back. When people click away, they won’t come back.
Those problems are so easily fixed, but people fail to check their sites on a regular basis. However, just having a grammatically perfect website is not enough. You have to be constantly adding and updating your information to it so that the Search Engines will want to keep putting you at the top of their lists. When the Search Engines visit your site with their “spider” programs, they look for the last time the site was updated. The more it is updated, the better ranking you will enjoy.
Fail #4. Too many banner ads, colors, flashy text or external links.
Websites that look (and are) one huge ad or one big sales pitch will usually fail.
Why? People see hundreds of ads each and every day on billboards & TV. They hear them on the radio while they are driving and they see them all over the web. If your website is not focused on what you do, then surfers will click away.
There are tons of other websites that will create banner ads for you to place on your site. Don’t do it. They don’t work, they won’t make you any money and you are just helping that company’s search ranking. Only provide external links on your site that help your business because an external link is a way for the surfer to leave your site. They can get distracted and not ever return to your offering.
Fail #5. Way too much money is spent for a website, hosting, setup and domain name with little to nothing in the way of support after the launch.
Clayton NC Web Design spends the time, the research and the monthly maintenance that your site deserves.
Learn more about our services here.
Your investment in your website should be like other business investments that you make. It should see a ROI. We can do that with your site.
Fail #6. Website owners don’t spend enough time researching keywords.
Keywords are an important part of how a Search Engine finds your website.
Choosing the right keywords doesn’t mean coming up with a list in your head. It means spending some time using web-based tools to help you find what people are actually searching for when using the Internet. Wouldn’t you like to know what people are searching for before writing pages on your website? Clayton NC Web Design finds all of the related search keywords to your business and helps our clients define their keyword searches.
There are so many tools out there beyond the scope of this article. This is one of the big ones as a reason for failure.
Fail # 7. People do not spend time optimizing their pages to be found by search engines.
Many people will pay for a “Search Engine Optimizer” (SEOs) that will get them to the top 10 on Google, Yahoo, and MSN.
Please remember that only 10 can be in the top ten for each keyword search and those are the ones who have built their pages with the content that puts them there and keeps them there.
The best computer engineers in the world work for Yahoo, Google and MSN and they will not be tricked into letting you into the top ten, the top thirty or the top 1,000 for that matter. They will let you in if your page offers relevant content that their searches are looking for though. And, once you make it into the top ten the honest way, it is really hard to drop out of it. Clayton NC Web Design can help your company’s website get in the top rankings of search engines the right way.
Fail # 8. People that have websites don’t respond to visitors in a timely manner.
It simply baffles me, people do not respond to inquiries on from their websites.
I contacted several printing companies when I was relocating our firm, to Clayton NC from NY and I found some printers that I thought could help me print some urgent work. I sent emails to them all (about 5 of them) and only one emailed me back within 24 hours. The others either waited over a week or did not email at all. That is a whopping 80% with poor response times.
I cannot tell how this will kill your business. Of course I chose to work with the one that did contact me and we were printing within 2 days. Point is, you have to email visitors back quickly or they will find someone else. Not only do you need to respond quickly, you need to respond professionally and you need to let them know that you read and understand their email. You should include all of your contact information and you have to use ‘spell-check’.
Fail # 9. People fail to register their sites on the local search engines.
Did you know that the major Search Engines are pouring millions of dollars into developing their local searches?
What does this mean? It means the major SE’s have overtaken the Yellow Pages as the number one medium for searching a local business. Engineers are working around the clock to create formulas that point searchers in the right direction and towards local vendors that can meet their needs. Are they pointing towards your business?
Everyone from dentists to hair salons who don’t show up on the local search will be at a disadvantage. In my estimate, a full 90% of sites are not showing up in the local searches and will be passed by their competition very soon.
Fail # 10. The biggest reason that websites fail is when people do nothing.
Yes, there are so many things you can do wrong that will make your website basically useless, but the worst one of all is not having a site.
Today people surf the web. This is just a fact. The Internet is no longer a luxury; it is used daily by millions and millions of Americans. They are searching for your help right now and if you don’t have a place on the web where they can find you, then they won’t.
Don’t become a victim of free website builders and amateur developers. Get your website working for you and start driving traffic with a professional website… Contact Us Today!
