Having an online presence is more than just sticking a site up on the web. If it isn’t managed correctly, your site may not achieve your goals or may even do more harm than good. If it is not linked to your company’s overall branding and company message this too can cause further issues. Here are five top mistakes to avoid when managing your website.
1. Not Establishing Goals
All too often, a website is designed for the sake of it, without fully appreciating or understanding its purpose or what you want it to achieve. Not establishing goals for your website may impact on frequency of visits or leave your audience baffled as to what you’re all about.
2. Designing for the Boss
A key error that many website managers make is creating a site that they think will appeal to the boss or which places the boss’s needs at the core of the site. According to Nielsen Norman Group, don’t build a site that your top executives will love – they’re not the target audience. Build your site with your customers in mind. This is where a Brand Strategy Agency such as Really Helpful Marketing can help you to get an outside perspective on your business.
3. Site and Organisation Structure as One
Your website shouldn’t be an exact copy of your organisation structure, and this is a mistake that many website managers make. The structure of your website should be organised according to how your audience would expect to use or navigate the site.
4. Outsourcing to Too Many People
For whatever reason, some website owners decide to outsource different aspects of their site or various projects relating to their site to multiple agencies. The problem with this is that it can end up looking very mismatched, incoherent or inconsistent, and users will be the first to pick up on this.
5. Disregard for Maintenance Costs
Focusing on the budget for the design of a website is an important consideration, but many managers fail to think about what happens after the site has gone live. A new website won’t stay that way for long, and a business needs to budget for regular maintenance and upkeep that will be needed during the course of its life. Failure to keep a website updated is not only bad news for your search ranking but will leave your customers turning to other sites that are more current.