Below is a list of the 5 most heartbreaking website pitfalls and how you can easily avoid them. Enjoy.
Pitfall #1. Paying Too Much For Your Website
When we know we want a website, but we are not certain of what we want to put on our website, the process can get very expensive. Website designers typically demand that you provide them with all of your “content” before they set up your website for you.
But what if you don’t know what all of your content is yet?
What if you’re not sure what you want the final product to look like?
What if, as you go through the process of designing and developing your website, you change your mind? You want to add things. You want to move things around.
If you are relying on someone else to make all these changes for you, this can get very, very expensive. From the website designer’s perspective, all of these changes take time, and time is … well… money. But from your perspective, creating something is a process. We build something, we learn from that process, and then we want to build something even better. That is the way all great things are accomplished.
What often ends up happening is that a budding entrepreneur ends up paying way too much for a website that, by the time it is built, is already obsolete. If you and your business are on a high growth path, then you will need a platform that you can affordably and easily update and upgrade to match that growth.
Pitfall #2. Not Making Changes and Keeping Your Website “Up to Date”
What if every change you make to your website costs you hundreds of dollars? How often would you feel like making those changes?
Probably not that often.
Eventually your articles and information get out of date, and your potential clients who find your website do not want to hire you or purchase from you because it doesn’t look like you are interested in your business anymore. This can get very frustrating. And even embarrassing. You stop giving out your website address because you know it will not impress anyone. In fact, you know it will actually turn potential customers right off.
Not keeping your website up to date can be very costly. But hiring someone else to update your website can also become very costly. What can you do?
Pitfall #3. Building Your Website on a Limited Platform
There are many platforms out there that will help you create a website. But many have some severe limitations:
- Not allowing your to have your own domain name – URL
- Placing third-party ads on your website that you have no control over
- Adding things like email opt-ins or online stores can only be done with costly upgrades to your website plan
- Limited number of themes available – or ways to display your pages
- Limited number of functions available, and no access to the infinite number of plug-ins out there that add functionality to your website.
What you really need is a website platform that does not have high annual fees, is functional and versatile, and can be easily updated and upgraded. WordPress is the answer.
Pitfall #4. Confusing WordPress.com with WordPress.org
Many people end up setting up their WordPress website on WordPress.com because they hear “WordPress” is what they should be using, so they immediately go to WordPress.com and set their site up there.
While WordPress.com and WordPress.Org are owned by the same company, the first is a glorified blog hosted on the WordPress site and can be very limiting and more expensive for a growing business.
What they should have done instead, is to set up their own hosting, and download the (free) wordpress software onto their own website. In the long run this is far less expensive, and far more flexible.
Pitfall #5. Not Having a Website at All
To not have a website is to turn down a lot of potential business. When people hear about you one of the first things they do is “look you up”. How do they find you?
Yes, you can have a FaceBook page, but nothing says you are a professional business like a stunning wordpress website.
What Do We Do About All of This?
The bottom line is that you want to learn how to do some, if not all of this, yourself. Even if, down the road, your business is thriving and you want to delegate your website responsibilities, you will always be able to jump back on in a pinch and make last-minute changes. And you will always have control over what goes on your website and how everything is presented.
Your Website is your “Window the the World”
This is often the first thing people see about you and/or your business.
Your Website can be an incredible resource in your marketing efforts.
Built correctly, your website can funnel visitors to the areas that interest them the most, and provide them exactly what they want and need from you.