“I hired a web design company who promised to build me a great website. While it looked good, it cost me about $12,000. Well, I didn’t see the results I was looking for and my website didn’t bring any additional traffic or new customers.”

Why did this happen? Here are some of the most frequent mistakes that contribute to a website failure.

Website Not Optimized for Search Engines

Thinking about SEO as a totally different project is a big mistake. Basic Search Engine optimization should be at the heart of the website, with the pretty presentation built around it. Keyword research, search engine friendly navigation and structure, duplicate content, multiple domains, Google local listing, 301 redirects, semantic markup, HTML and CSS coding, unobtrusive scripting all do matter when designing an optimized website.

Not So Great User Experience

A website success always depends on its visitors. A surprising number of web designers ignore user interaction entirely and base their web design only on a design perspective. This typically results in inappropriate design or just decoration. Web designers are much more than pixel pushers. They have intimate knowledge about the Web and how users interact with it. They also understand user interfaces and design techniques, including grid systems, white space, color theory and much more.

“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” – Steve Jobs, Apple

Website Performance Not Measured

You cannot value something you cannot measure. Fortunately, there are numerous metrics you can use to evaluate the impact of the website.

Google Analytics generates insightful charts and reports about the number of visitors, page views, content distribution, traffic sources, keyword report and much more. If you don’t have it installed, how do you know that something needs to be adjusted and improved?

To have a successful website you should know right from the start how to measure the performance of your website. Measuring your site’s success is crucial if you want it to make the biggest online impact. This is because by measuring how often people visit your website you know how well your site is doing online and how well it is appealing to its target audience.

Previous Work and Results Not Checked

Don’t believe everything you are told, but ask for examples and results! Are previous clients happy? Are their websites looking good and professional? Do they have any traffic?

“Can you show me examples of your previous work and share some success stories?”
- Google

Check your web design company portfolio and look for quality and the latest trends and technologies. Ask for adequate contact information, documentation, and explanations.

GMA, located in Cary NC, provides complete NextGen EHR and EPM solutions to small and mid-sized practices, and handles all aspects of implementation, support and maintenance.

Easily the best web vendor I’ve worked with! Our site looks great, it was delivered on time and delivered within our budget. I highly recommend Better Image.
Chris R

Visit www.gmahcs.com.

Luxury Baths & Kitchens specializes in bathroom and kitchen remodeling in Raleigh NC and the Triangle area. Since 1988, they have been the leader in the industry in bathroom remodeling, kitchen remodeling and custom acrylic tub and shower systems.

Better Image has been a pleasure to work with. The value and service provided surpassed our expectations. Thanks again!
Luxury Baths & Kitchens

Luxury Baths & Kitchens is one stop shop for all your bathroom and kitchen remodeling needs.

Visit: www.luxurybathral.com

Market Imports is located in the Garden Center at the State Farmers Market in Raleigh, NC. They specialize in antique furniture, home accessories, architectural elements, patio and garden furniture.

They are the largest supplier of home and garden accessories in the Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill area.

Thank you for you hard work. The website looks fantastic!
Florence Wilson, Market Imports

Visit: www.market-imports.com

Bouvier Health Foundation promotes and advance knowledge of canine health issues, especially those with a genetic basis, that occur in the Bouvier des Flandres breed.

Bouvier Health Foundation distributes information that benefits Bouvier breeders and their owners alike and raises money to fund research projects.

Visit www.bouvierhealthfoundation.org.

From a SEO point of view there is no benefit of using Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Unless you are really good at it and you are able to create a large audience around you, you are just wasting your time. Most small business owners are not online stars or have excellent social media communication skills, so doing it just for SEO doesn’t make sense.

Following I’m going to show you why.

Nofollow Atribute

“Nofollow” is an HTML attribute used to tell search engines that a link should not influence the link target’s ranking . It’s purpose is to show search engines what links are not to be trusted, without merit, or just spam.

How does Google handle nofollowed links?

“In general, we don’t follow them. This means that Google does not transfer PageRank or anchor text across these links. Essentially, using nofollow causes us to drop the target links from our overall graph of the web.”
Google

Links from Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn

Links from Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn do not matter for the most part. I haven’t seen any websites without good quality links, ranking high on Google just because they have Twitter and Facebook accounts.

For showing purpose I’m going to pick one of the largest web companies, Google. So let’s see how Google accounts on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are treated.

Facebook Links

For Facebook, a lot of the profiles are not public so Google cannot see them. Links from public profiles are “nofollow”.

Twitter Links

Most of the links on Twitter are “nofollow”, including user website link.

LinkedIn Links

Most of the links on LinkedIn are “nofollow”.

Blog Commenting Links

Most of blog commenting links like Blogger and Wordpress are “nofollow”.

What is the conclusion? Engage in social media because you really want to do it not for SEO purpose. When you hear an SEO professional that tells you he is going to create social media accounts for you, walk away. Social media is about you and your online community not about Search Engine Optimization.

Natural Granite and Marble LLC is a granite countertops and marble installer in Raleigh, NC. They offer great craftsmanship and outstanding service at a reasonable cost.

Natural Granite Marble designs and installs a variety of stone remodeling tops and accessories including kitchen granite countertops, bathroom countertops and fireplaces throughout the Triangle and surrounding areas.

“I wish I knew you before wasting so much money on Internet Marketing experts.”
Sam Coelho, Owner, Natural Granite and Marble

SciAnswers.com is a science related questions and answers site that provides members the opportunity to ask and answer questions by simply entering and submitting a question to one of the many science categories. Replies to submitted questions or entire categories of questions can be followed via RSS feeds.

I knew I wanted a science related Q&A site that also had a social networking component, but I had no idea of what would potentially work best for the user. Better Image was able to take my user requirements and expand them to create a well robust site. The overall process afforded me the flexibility of suggesting new features throughout the development process.

James Lindsey, Ph.D.
SciAnswers.com

In addition to asking questions, members can also answer questions that fall under their area of expertise. Custom search engines integrated into the site allows for searching of existing questions and replies by keyword or phrase search. The site also pulls in possible matches from Wikipedia, PubMed and Google to include in results to keyword quires, as well as when a member submits a question. Although the site is intended for science related questions, non-science related questions can be asked and are grouped within an “uncategorized” category.

Members can also enter a social media environment, where a question can privately be asked to a selected member or broadcasted to multiple members. This environment also provides a place for members to just mingle. The social media environment of SciAnswers.com is not Facebook, but some noteworthy features include: private message, friends, groups, the wire, activity streams, and blog tracking. Membership is totally free.

The site is build with BBPress, Buddypress and Wordpress Mu.

Visit SciAnswers.com.

Our challenge was to deliver a usable design that employs modern Web 2.0 techniques but at the same time maintains the corporate and .edu style feeling.

“Working with Better Image has been a tremendous success for us! They are experts at what they do – also extremely dependable and agile. We presented Better Image with several time-sensitive challenges, and they were able to come through every time with a fantastic product. They have directly impacted the success of our business, and we look forward to working with them on an ongoing basis.”
Dave McNasby, COO, Optimal Resume, Durham NC

OptimalResume.com is headquartered in Durham, NC, and benefits from the technical resources of the Research Triangle Park area.

Visit OptimalResume.com

The Infusion Group is a premiere talent management services organization based in Raleigh, NC. Their mission is to energize the most important people that drive business today – employees, customers and future customers by pro-actively infusing the 20th century workplace with 21th century workforce.

Dear Chip,

I wanted to take this opportunity and thank you for the excellent work performed in designing our site. Your creative energy, expertise, value and impressive turnaround help us to deliver on our mission of connecting people and infusing tomorrow’s great workplaces.

We look forward to working on expansion projects with you in the future and wouldn’t hesitate in recommending your services.

Thank you,
Judy White, SPHR, GPHR, HCS
President, The Infusion Group, LLC

Visit www.theinfusiongroupllc.com.