Five Fatal Mistakes to Avoid if You Sell Online

If your marketing strategy includes a website, you’ve probably invested time and money creating your online presence. That’s why it’s so important to maximize that presence by avoiding some common website missteps.

Let’s review the top five fatal mistakes made on business websites:

1. Blinding Them with Your Message: You want your website to have a bold message about your product or service, but it shouldn’t scream it. Business websites should never bombard potential customers with bright, flashing banners and obnoxious music.

2. Not Providing a Map: Do what large companies do-use a focus group to check your site’s navigability. All you need to do is ask three or four people to click on your website’s homepage and look for a specific product or service. Were they pleased with the experience or ready to tear out their hair? Confusing links to product pages will have your potential customers shopping elsewhere.

3. Building Links to Nowhere: Even worse than confusing order links are links that don’t work at all! Test the links on your website often, especially after content changes. It only takes one broken link for a customer to decide he’s finished browsing.

4. Failing to Deliver: How many urgent emails per week do you receive about ordering problems? It’s crucial to have good systems supporting your site, if you plan on anyone ordering twice. Shipping systems, for example, should interface well with your website to create a seamless flow from order to delivery.

5. Losing Your Dictionary: Flinching at grammar and spelling errors isn’t what you want site visitors to do. If spelling isn’t your forte’, make sure someone on your team is proofing your website before it’s published.

It’s possible, with some careful attention to detail, to build a terrific website to sell your products. Take the time to build a quality site and you’ll reap the benefits from your grateful customers.

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