Common Website Mistakes

It used to be that simply having a website meant that your organization was ahead of the curve. Those days are long gone. Today more that ever, organizations need to fuel business and their bottom lines through savvy internet tactics.

What separates the savvy from the just getting by? If any of these symptoms are true of your organization or your website, you may need to rethink your strategy, or better put, start using a strategy in the first place.

Symptoms:

1. You cannot quantify your website's traffic statistics even in general terms. This should be as common knowledge as your last year's revenues or your mission statement. How can you make smart decisions about internet marketing dollars if you don't know how much traffic you are getting?

2. Your website has not changed in any way in 6 months. If this is the case, it probably indicates that your site is not an active part of your marketing plan. Be careful not to neglect your site to the point that potential customers will be turned off by a lack of attention to detail.

3. Your site is not generating leads of any kind. Does your site provide an easy way for customers to contact you? Can they submit questions online? Are you in the habit of asking walk-ins "how did you hear about us?"

4. Your site is rarely, if ever, mentioned in meetings and planning sessions. This one is pretty self-explanatory. Is your site the big white elephant in the living room that nobody talks about?

If your organization displays any of the above symptoms, don't despair. But do commit to doing something about it. Many times the best way to begin is to find sites that you do like and incorporate the best qualities of those sites into your own. Now get surfing!

Tony Valle is owner of Promethius Consulting, LLC, a website design and marketing firm. Learn more at http://www.promethius.com

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