Top 10 Website Gotchas – Guaranteed to Send Your Customers Elsewhere

When you build your web site you need to have a plan what the target audience is, where is the site going to evolve to, what are the steps involved. The reason for this is if you do not have a plan you will likely make mistakes, overlook including information, and overall have an un-organized and not a well thought out site. You might read the site and completely understand the layout and the content, but remember that your web site visitors did not design the site and need a little more direction. Read the following 10 website gotchas that are common and will make your visitors head to another site quickly.

Gotcha #1 Contact Information

You need to provide your contact information, phone numbers (if the site is attached to a physical business), e-mail addresses, and physical address. The reason for this is if a potential customer wants to contact you for whatever reason they can!

Gotcha #2 Poor Structured

Make sure your website is well structured and that all links are obvious. You should even use sub-headings to make it even more clear where content is on the site. You don’t want to have to make people search.

Gotcha #3 Checkout

Make the checkout process straightforward and easy. Too many times people get to the checkout and it is tricky, asks for a lot of pointless information, and generally takes longer than the potential purchaser wants to spend buying the product. As a result, the customer (think of the shopping trolley left in the aisle!) leaves your site to buy the product or service elsewhere. Don’t let this happen to you; make your checkout fast and easy!

Gotcha #4 Typos

If your website has typographical errors, it will be noticed by your visitors. Many people consider this a sign of a greenhorn, not a professional who is in business trying to make a living. If your website is full of typos, people are not going to believe that you take your site seriously and as a result they won’t either.

Gotcha #5 Hidden Content

Do not hide content. You as a webmaster might not think the content is hidden, but if it is easy to find or visible it might as well be hidden. Make all information obvious and easy to find.

Gotcha #6 Personal Information

Do not ask for personal information, and if you do explain why and make it optional (unless required for delivery etc.). Many times customers will want to buy your product and get to the checkout page only to have to answer lots of personal questions that don’t relate to the product or service nor the actual sale. This will send people to other less inquisitive pages.

Gotcha #7 Too Many Forms

Keep it simple (KISS – Keep it simple stupid!). If you are asking for memberships, checkouts, or anything that requires information, do not use a lot of forms. Figure out what questions you really need to ask and keep it short and sweet. Also, only ask the question once, don’t keep re-asking for previously captured information.

Gotcha #8 Customer Focus (You, not We)

Focus on your customers, their needs and desires, and what you can do for them. Your customer is not going to your site to find out about you, but what product or service you have for them. Remember this and if you have to put a web history about yourself (Vanity!), then do so in a special section where people can opt to read it.

Gotcha #9 Guide the customers decision making process

Potential customers might not know what they want when they go to your web site, sounds like my shopping experiences. So, guide them, make suggestions about products, and provide backgrounds and uses for different products.