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Your Website Sucks and You’re to Blame

Before you kill the messenger let me explain just why your website sucks, why you’re responsible and how it can be fixed.

Potential customers don’t like to be annoyed, figure out your site, or have their time wasted. They also want real information not endless pitches and over hyped products.

How did I learn this about your website? Well I’ve spent hours on the web looking at your website and countless others. Just today I was searching for a solution to a simple problem: I needed the manual to a radio that I bought last month. Google gave me a million hits but everyone was a dry hole of misinformation, product pitches and fake reviews. The Internet is becoming a babble of incoherent nonsense - a circus. It’s getting to be like the carnival with barkers yelling at you to buy some of their cheap foreign goods.

Here are the most common annoyances that blow visitors right off your webpages:

Loud audio or video messages that start up as soon as you open the page

This is becoming more and more common. Do the people responsible understand that very few web surfers want loud blaring messages screaming at them. Has anyone thought about how the web is used today:

• surfing while on the phone
• in a meeting,
• while another important technology - the TV - is on?

How about those of us who open multiple tabs with several webpages from a search that we’ve done. Suddenly there is this cacophony of noise that makes me close all of the tabs. What a waste.

Navigation that takes Einstein to use

Hey, I’m no genius. Don’t make me think. Buttons that don’t look like buttons, clever wording instead of clear instructions, lack of a navigation tool bar, inconsistencies between pages. I need breadcrumbs to find my way around most websites. In frustration almost any other site will do - I don’t even hit the back button.

The important information is hidden

This item is goes hand in hand with bad navigation. I want to contact you - how come I can’t find your contact information? Why are the things important hidden - like prices, addresses, phone numbers. What about clear instructions or links to important functions. Even the big boys do this. Just today I was trying to find the submit button on Reddit. Guess what - it’s not on my account page. I have to go to the home page and look below the fold to the right. Their instructions were just as bad - they said “to submit an article hit the submit button.” Hey Einstein, I knew that - where in the blazes is it?

Another gem - GetResponse. What is the most common thing you need from any website that needs to have you put their information on your site? The Code. Need to generate their widget or logo or whatever right - you need their html. Can’t find it? Don’t know how to do it? Well it’s right there in the FAQ - Not!. Okay 15 minutes into the tutorial I found it. More time wasting. Shame on you.

“Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability” by Steve Krug should be required reading by anyone putting a single letter or image on the web. And yes, I do make about 5 cents if you by the book from here. Wow. Yeah, thats why I’m recommending it.

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Cluttered, hard to read websites

Maybe websites don’t want people over 40 to read their sites. Perhaps they think the 13 year olds with great eyesight and who like clutter, noise and graphics have all the big bucks to spend on their sites. I don’t know. What else can explain the use of 8 point type, cluttered pages, and flashing graphics that throw even non epileptics into seizures?

Overuse of color and graphics

Again more distractions and inability to read and enjoy a website. Color is great - like most things in moderation. If I want an Easter Egg I’ll get my son to color me one up. When I want to learn something I want to be able to read it - and without straining my eyes after a long day looking at the computer.

What is it with dark typefaces on dark backgrounds. How many books would you read like that? Strange fonts, multiple fonts, dark images on even darker backgrounds. Perhaps there is an entire catagory of web users I haven’t come across yet - Vampires. Come on here, use some common sense. There is a reason that books are printed on white paper with nice black clear type.

The site is just an excuse to get a bunch of Adsense ads and other advertisements displayed

Is anyone else out there annoyed at the terrible number of fake reviews, misleading titles and simple garbage that is being published these days? Want an honest product review? Good Luck. Marketers have taken over and even when you think you’re getting some information it really is only a pitch for someone getting affiliate commissions. They probably haven’t even used the product.

Worthless Content

This goes along with the item above. First there was PLR - Private Label Rights - materials that get reprinted and reprinted and reprinted all over the web. Then there was copying - the same information published over and over again. Now there is simply tricks to get you to a website:

• Misleading titles
• Keywords that have nothing to do with the subject
• Completely empty sites except for advertisements
• Fake content from RSS feeds and Social Networks.

Google anything lately? What about those ads that say “Don’t Buy XXXX Until you read this!” or “XXX is terrible, learn why here.” I guess this stuff sells because its out there and growing. But if you’re a reputable site, especially a local business trying to earn trust and credibility avoid these tactics. They just piss people off and make them flee the site.

What are the reasons for all of these horrible websites?

Well, and I’m sorry for stepping on toes here but in the words of some famous person “we’ve meet the enemy and they is us” or something like that. First, many business people too busy or too unsure what web users are doing entrust their online presence to others. Outsourcing or even relying on graphics designers, programmers and the geek squad can be disastrous.

Now God knows I could use them - my site sure suffers from a lack of polish - but in general they are more concerned with how something looks than how it functions. Or perhaps a more kinder wording is that they know technology - they justs don’t necessarily know business or selling. They are typically the people who like Flash Websites, jarring video clips and loud obnoxious audio.

Having a website is first and foremost a business process with goals, objectives, and a purpose. Everything on the website either adds or detracts from that purpose. Every element I’ve complained about, from graphics to multimedia, event to advertising, has its place. But those are business decisions based on what the customer wants and needs. Frustrating and irritating prospects won’t further the business or get anyone motivated to drive to your office or store.

I won’t be able to offer advice to the Internet Marketers out there who just want to create traffic and leads. Those who don’t really care if people are happy or if their methods are honest or ethical. However it makes it more important that Local Businesses and reputable businesses differentiate themselves by having websites that are full of valuable content and are easy to use.

However there is a solution

My next article will be about creating a website that is actually useful - that people will visit and stay on to read. For now lets just briefly touch on the wrong thinking that needs to be fixed first before the keyboard is even touched.

Mark Asper, President of Internet Strategies, a business and Web think tank, gave the reasons that most websites loose money. I think his ideas are also why so many websites simply suck. They have:

• No clear Internet Strategy
• No integration of the Web activities with the rest of the business
• Not understanding the Web
• Too much outsourcing

These reasons can be summed up simply by saying that most websites don’t have the clear purpose of driving business into their doors and integrating the web into the money making processes of their business. Most people don’t know what the best use of the Web is for a local business. Even when the objectives are clearly known - that is make money by increasing business to your store, consulting practice, or local business - the specific strategies and tactics remain unclear

The problem is compounded by outsourcing to people who have the knowledge, you know web designers, graphic artists, programmers, but are more concerned with ‘non-business’ issues instead of your revenue goals. What you often end up with are beautiful websites full of graphics, blinking banners, perhaps even videos and audio clips. These websites might be good for the ego (which isn’t always a bad thing) but they don’t put money in your pocket. Websites like this might be great for consumers who want to learn about your products and services and shop for the best price. However unless you’re a library, providing free content isn’t helpful, at least for your bottom-line

We’ve all been on websites that

• All about ego—all about the company: We have this, we did that, we, we, we…We’re the best, or the first or have them most. Nobody cares what you have, said or did. If your visitor doesn’t see something that’s going to benefit them, they’ll be hitting for the back button, quickly.

• Brochure—a copy of the company’s brochure. Sure it has product and service information, photos, driving directions, and contact information. But it’s boring, it’s just like millions of other websites, it doesn’t offer any chance for building a relationship with the reader. Why should they pick you over them?

• Buy Me!—Another website that only cares about selling something. There’s certainly no shortage of websites offering tons of products and services to buy. The problem is most of them don’t offer anything else. No useful information, no free trial, no coupons, nothing except the opportunity to separate the visitor from their hard-earned cash.

• Don’t Buy Me!—The exact opposite of the error just mentioned. Some websites make money from getting people to read them and by clicking on their ads. They may use all of the above techniques—coupons, free information, trail offers—however they aren’t really interested in the reader or in building a relationship with them. Local Businesses need to base their strategy on building trust and long-term relationships, not profiting on one-time sales or advertising revenue.

Think about your website as you would your store or office. Is it inviting” Is it clean and organized? Can people find what they are looking for? Is help available?

Design a website that you would be comfortable using. Pretend you know nothing about your business, your products, even your niche or specialty. Now, when you navigate through your website is it helpful? Are you able to get information and understand the product or service on the website? Does the site motivate you to want to learn more, drive over to the store, or make a call?

My next article will be on the specific strategies and techniques of creating a usable and readable website. I hope this information is helpful and that you’ll rush out (or boot the computer up) and fix any of the problems I’ve listed.

Oh…Don’t let me forget to mention…

if you think your website doesn’t suck or you sell quality foreign goods make a comment and post your website. I’ll check it out and let the world know that at least one website is really great. Thanks.