So Does Your Website Suck?

I'm one of those people who tend to Google something and follow as many of the resulting links as possible just to check out different company's websites. I've started noticing a fairly frequent trend – most websites are just really bad. I don't think small companies are alone in the website funk department, because there are some larger companies out there who have terrible websites too; but there's a very important difference between a crappy enterprise corporation site and a crappy small business site. For the large enterprise, a website is an additional method of advertising amongst other methods. For the small business, a website may be the chief way for customers to obtain information about the company and its products/services. This places small business owners at a significant disadvantage compared to larger businesses when the website is horrible.

As part of my research, I checked out 50 websites of small businesses in different segment. For the most part, they were service businesses but a few sold products directly on their website. So let's see if your own website could use some help attracting or even keeping visitors. Websites that suck often are:

Too tough to navigate

A lot of sites suffer from navigation issues. Personally I think it's because of the design methodology used to build some websites – the site map and layouts should be done before a single line of code is written. Good website navigation (1.) makes it easy to find what you want through intuitive placement of links, (2.) makes it easy to know where you are on the site at all times, (3.) gives you a way to go back to where you were without hitting the back button or re-visiting the homepage, and (4.) always presents links to contact the business and return to the homepage regardless of what page you are on. One last note – every page should have a link to your site's privacy statement, and a copyright statement, usually positioned at the bottom of the page.

Rough on the eyes

This category contains a lot of offenders. You must strike a balance between colors you like, or colors that represent your business, and colors that are easy on the eyes. For example, a site that uses a bright yellow background with white foreground lettering and green links can be tough on the eyes after a few minutes. This will tend to cause visitors to look elsewhere. When it comes to color, go for softer tones based in the same hue as that bright yellow or neon green you might like. This will result in a softer look for the site. Another problem in this category – sites with weird fonts. For starters, your site should employ style-sheets and use font-families as opposed to individual fonts; this ensures cross-browser/cross-system support.

Too verbose or not verbose enough

A website is a mix of an online brochure and the elevator sales pitch. If your website doesn't work that mix then you'll end up with a site that either contains way too much information for a person to absorb (or perhaps believe) or not enough information to compel the visitor to move forward with your company. So to strike a balance, think of it this way. Your home page is where you make that elevator sales pitch. Summarize what your business does and provide a mix of visual and textual elements to compel further discovery on the part of the visitor. The rest of your site should be the brochure. Basically what I'm saying is – your home page shouldn't require the user to scroll under most circumstances. For your interior site pages, break up the monotony of paragraphs by using bold headers, pictures that illustrate the point or show your services in action, and bullet points to emphasize your services. Don't overdue the bullet points though!

Cheesy/cheap looking

There was a time, and I remember it well, when things like site counters, waving American flag GIFs, redundant animation, blinking or twisting link buttons, and neon colors were common place on websites; a time when a business could make its own website using front page 2000. My friends, that time is long gone. Your website, no matter what your business is, is your company's digital sales executive. Enough said.

Difficult to figure out what the company does

This can happen easily if your business does a lot of different things, like sell products as well as services. The best way to handle this is to use menu-based navigation to separate services and products into their individual components. Introductory pages can be effective for showing relationships between services and products but still provide direct links as well.

Outdated

Simply put, if the last entry in your "company news" section is dated from 2 months ago, or you last press release was made in 2007, just remove that section from the home page. Remember, the front page is your sales pitch. Your customers will get turned off instantly if they think your site is neglected or if the business is no longer making headlines. Same goes for awards and accolades. If your business won a chamber of commerce award in 2005, then the right time to display that on your site's homepage would've been in 2005…

Way too busy/flashy

It's the opposite of cheesy – all flash websites with music and futuristic sounds when you click on links might "seem" cool, but not for professional websites unless your business is producing games or flash websites. Background music is almost always a no-no in web design today. Most importantly, if your site has a lot of links, do go for buttons – stick to text and use CSS effects to help customers know when they're on a link instead of just regular text.

Again, your website is your digital sales executive. An effective website should be logical, intuitive, informative, and aesthetically pleasing; its content should provide a mix of that elevator pitch as well as an online brochure. Your website, properly designed, could be as effective for your business as an inside sales person at a larger company.