W3 Spin|Internet news blog

We’ve all chased the dream of online riches and seen it turn into a nightmare – but are you making it worse? Check you these 10 fatal website mistakes and see which ones you’re guilty of!

1. Gave it to a relative to do – Just because a nephew is good at video games it doesn’t mean he can create you a wonderful website. It amazes me that people fall for this. Once they’ve asked them to do it they are trapped. If he doesn’t deliver then the risk of family rifts put so much extra pressure to accept what is finally given.

2. Used a copy writer – You should never ever use a copy writer to create copy for your website. This is expensive and created content that isn’t yours – content that lacks your personality, knowledge and passion that is supposed to appeal to your customers. This won’t ever work. There is a better way. Create your own copy and then get an Editor to review it. This is quick, simple and much, much cheaper.

3. Knowledge is power – Do you waste money buying book after book that may be read but then forgotten? This habit can get even more expensive online with ebooks and courses – some costing thousands of dollars that is a lot in any currency! This habit has two serious dangers. If you read without acting then you will never get anyway as it is only through action that knowledge has any point at all. The second danger is that you will always think of yourself as a newbie or beginner and never develop further.

4. Dabbling – We all get offers in emails right and while most are ignored we get tempted occasionally. So we buy into the latest scheme and give it a go. Then we get tempted by the next one. The result is that we dabble here and there and get nowhere.

5. Repeat past mistakes – It is human nature to assume that if something didn’t work then it is your fault. In the worst examples, this can lead people to be conned again and again. You buy traffic, it didn’t work so you complain. If they’re clever crooks they’ll say hey was your website ready for the traffic or did you buy enough and you foolishly but inevitably place another order.

6. Automated spamming advertising – If you really want to spam then you can automate the whole process by buying software solutions that automate the spamming process for you. They don’t tell you that this is what you’ll be doing but it’s the reality of their “instant traffic” program. Don’t do it. It will get you into a heap of trouble.

7. Black hat – Psst! Wanna know a secret, back door, sneaky, ninja way to get number 1 on Google today? Sure we all do and then we pay out good money for a so-called “black hat” technique. The only problem is the risk that comes with it. These black hat techniques can get your accounts closed, or your website banned.

8. Do you use flash introductions? – Flash graphic introductions are a pain. Sure they can be skipped but they simply annoy people and are invisible to search engines – a complete waste of money and effort.

9. Do you have a “fire and forget” website? – Have you created a website some years ago and left it to fester? Is the last news or blog item over a year ago? When was it last updated or is it gathering cyber dust? If you’ve answered “yes” to any of these questions then you have a stale website. This tells any customers that happen to find it that you just don’t care.

10. Your site has no content – Your website has no content beyond the traditional pages of home, your products, about you, contact you. How would you view such a website? Yes, you’d look for a second, close the window and will have forgotten all about it within a few minutes. Is this what you want to happen with visitors to your site?

It is not too late to put these dumb and destructive ways behind you and get on the route to website success. Stop reacting in a panic and instead become committed to your online success.