It’s great to have your own website up and running to sell your goods and services, but if that site has errors, they can be a game killer.
Being professional is a must in this aspect. A good looking website isn’t enough. You have to know that there is pro level layout, design, infrastructure, all throughout your website and SEO, or search engine optimization calls for this.
You would look ridiculous with a hot looking website with lots of bells and whistles, but then have it full of spelling errors and bad links, or worse. Clients in the know would ask themselves why they would trust your business if you can’t even make a website that makes sense. It’s not that difficult to build a website, but for today’s online marketing options, you had not only better know how to build a website, but you had better have it SEO’d for maximum efficiency.
Your first diagnostic should be an overall review of your site. Is it easy to get to via search engines? Does id load fast enough? Are there missing pictures, videos, text, and copy? Is it easy to navigate through?
If you see any of these errors right fro the start, you’re in big trouble and you had better get in there and fix things fast. The reason is, if you can see the errors, you can be rest assured the search engines and customers have and that could lead to almost impossible repair to your reputation and rankings. If you’ve a customer who has written a review about your site and services and mentions how sloppy and difficult your site is, you’re sunk.
So diagnose what you see on the surface and second diagnostic is a deeper investigation such as load time, statistics, scripting languages and other technical details. These technical diagnoses are vital. Let them not be underestimated. The mortar that holds your site together is the technical details, the bricks and decorations are the content you have.
Diagnosis three is the content itself. Is your content pertinent to your business, location, and services? If not, it will be absurd to have such content on your site as it won’t be doing you any good. If you own a bakery in Brooklyn, New York, then your website shouldn’t have sports scores about the Miami Dolphins on it unless that content is directly related to your business as in like they ordered baked goods from you. That has to be carefully and entertainingly displayed so it has real relevance and not look like some spam site which will get you creamed nowadays by Google.
So as you can see, this isn’t a subject that you should take lightly or delegate responsibility to others. You have to take the bull by the horns and make your site worthwhile so that you gain the maximum benefits of your efforts. There are a number of free diagnostic tools on the web too for just such endeavors.
The bottom line here is not to wait. The more you leave those holes open on your site, the more traffic, opportunity, and money will bleed away and your competitors will reap the rewards.