5 Reasons Why You’re Wasting Your Money Building a Web Site…

If:
you have no concrete plan before you start building one,
your content sucks,
your site looks like it has no cohesion,
you don’t know who is visiting your site,
your site doesn’t get updated

then:
you are wasting your time and money on building a web site.

If content is king, then planning is God
I am sure that subtitle will rile some visitors, but I don’t mean to be inflammatory. What I mean to do is show a relationship between the two. Your plan has to be the most important element of your web site from day one. Period. No throwing things together in a mixer and seeing what comes out – have a plan. You don’t have to stick to it word for word – it can change - but if you detail everything you will be able to see any flaws early on.

I speak to people a lot who have no clue what they want on a web site – they just HAVE TO HAVE A WEB SITE NOW!

If you are going to spend good old fashioned hard earned cashola on something you had better know what it is. PLAN.

Yes, content is king
Now you have a plan for what you want, you need to implement it. The text content that you have on your web site will determine how people and search engines will view your site. If visitors come but find nothing worthwhile reading they will leave fast. Your beautifully designed site will be just another click but no sale.

Laser in that focus
When you plan out your web site - from its design elements to its text, your site it will have a focus and look cohesive. A site that looks like a disjointed mess has no focus. So PLAN.

No visitors today, sorry
You built it but they didn’t come. Why? Do you know? Part of your PLAN needs to be tracking your site’s stats from Day 1. You need to know who came, where they went, where they were when they said goodbye. Sign up for Google Analytics for free – it’s amazingly complex but easy on the eyes for those who don’t want to delve too deep into site stats.

R.I.P. ye olde web site
Your site went live 4 years ago and that was the last time content was added. If this is your, was your, or will be your web site’s story then there is no point having a web site at all.

With the millions upon millions of web sites that have come since your last update, guess which end of the pile your listing is at? Unless your web site is so unique that no one else has mentioned anything that is on your site anywhere else on the web, because you have let your site get dusty on the shelf, no one will visit your web site – except your mom.

The above are just five reasons why your web site could be a big waste of your time and money. There are many more. Keep coming back as I write more about those going forward. In the meantime, start planning!