Last month I started doing some research on small business website, see what I found then: A Text File Website Could Be Better. Well I have continued that research into October, and already this month I have looked at nearly 500 small business websites. My initial conclusion? There are millions of small business website built around the year 2000, and they have not been updated since. Small business owners, this post is for you.
It’s Not the Year 2000 Anymore
Looking at website after website I started to see a common occurrence with small business websites. Updates are not very frequent, and layout upgrades appear to be non-existent. So what you say? Well mainly, it’s not the year 2000 anymore. The way websites appear, function, and perform are completely different today than they were back in 2000.
This is all about visitor expectations. Visitors are expecting more from a website than just a brochure site. They are also expecting a business website to be more professional in appearance. It’s time to delete the silly animated gifs or scrolling text. It’s time to make your content consistent in format, and it’s most definitely time to make sure everything works correctly on your website. In my previous post about this, A Text File Website Could Be Better, formatting is certainly a major issue.
Not Everyone Uses Internet Explorer
If you do have a site that was developed back in 2000, have you looked at your site using a different web browser than Internet Explorer recently? In the year 2000 90% of everyone online was using IE. Today, less than 50% use IE. Why does that matter? It matters because IE was designed to fix formatting errors made by webmasters. It could also format non-HTML content that only Microsoft PC’s understand.
Having a browser that automatically fixes errors may sound like a good idea, but it only works if there is just one kind of web browser and one kind of operating system. Now a days their are many, Firefox Opera to name a couple web browsers, and they don’t automatically fix webmaster errors. So unless your code is perfect (highly doubtful), it means your site may look very much different than you think, and it could be appearing that way to most people. Some of the sites I saw using Firefox as my web browser, appeared almost crazy in layout. I knew they had not looked at their site with a browser other than IE. I saw a lot of content overlapping other content.
Want to see what your website looks like using another web browser? Check out BrowserShots. This is not an ad, but an actual resource I use daily.
Users Expect More than a Brochure
Did you build your website so visitors or prospects could find out more about your business? Is your website an electric brochure? I’m betting many of you say yes to this. Did you know your top competitors don’t have a website to do this? Niche leaders often have websites that do something more than give business hours, or show a few pictures of products.
A modern small business website engages visitors. They ask for and get prospects to subscribe to newsletters. They generate leads with simple forms, they constantly update their content, and they make their website sell. A brochure doesn’t do anything, and is often crumpled up. Are you a business owner thinking it’s not worth spending any more money on a website? I’m betting it’s because your website doesn’t do anything. It’s like having a cruddy ad in a third rate phone book. Don’t just list your phone number and email, and expect to get leads.
No Quality Control? A Big Site Turnoff
Now here is the final note I have to make today, and this occurred at an extremely high rate. This is obvious step to some, but apparently not to most small business owners based on my research. There appears to be little to zero quality control going on with small business websites. When you have a website, you need to make sure everything works on it, or your would be prospects will look elsewhere.
Some basic items to check:
- Check to make sure all your links work, and try to imagine being a new visitor or prospect while doing this
- Make sure your forms work – Don’t just look to see if they are there, try them, and see if they worked as planned.
- Make sure you site looks they way you want not just in your browser, but in other types of web browsers
- Make sure you pages are titled
- Make sure all of your pages load quickly
- Check for typos
- Make sure your site is consistent in format
These are all important items to check, but the reminder still needs to go out because it’s obviously not getting done. Maybe it’s just getting ignored. If you feel your website is good enough, please take the time today, and look at your top three competitors sites. One simple change to your website could make all the difference in the world.
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