Millions of businesses now have web sites, but due to the relative newness of the web, many businesses are making mistakes that can be avoided. You can learn a great deal from what others have done well or done poorly, read this so you don't make the same mistakes.

1) Announcing the web site address before the site is in place or finished.
The infamous "under construction" sign remains in place to greet visitors for months to come. A lot of money is spent on publicity to announce the site, then prospects visit, are not impressed and never return. Wasted money, wasted effort.

2) Web sites that are too fancy or are overwhelming.
Colour, graphics and other features should enhance not distract. If a visitor to your site has to wait unreasonable amounts of time for graphics to load, can't easily read your pages, or in general gets frustrated trying to read or navigate your web site, chances are good that they will just "click" out and be gone forever. Strike a balance with a site that is appealing, attractive and colorful but is easy to read and well organized. Graphics should be small, used appropriately and enhance or inform about a concept or product. Avoid very dark backgrounds unless the text can easily be read. Avoid overuse of heavily textured or patterned backgrounds that tend to fatigue the eyes after prolonged exposure.

3) Web sites that are too technically advanced.
Too many web developers gouge a company for state of the art technical add-ons to their site which may only be seen or appreciated by a small percentage of the Internet audience. Despite advancements with ISDN and cable modem connections, there are still a large number of surfers who have slow speed connections, or that are using outdated browsers. All of the fancy fireworks, video and sound escapes these people. Although you shouldn't downgrade your site to a basic one to accommodate everyone, you should have a site that is a balance of state of the art technology and simplicity.

4) Sites that are not easily navigated or are disorganized.
Hypertext allows for amazing fluidity between pages and concepts within a site. Despite this fact many developers do not make effective use of hyperlinks. What you offer from your site should be immediately recognizable, easy to get to and easy to get back. The "2 Click Rule" applies here. In other words everything you offer visitors should be 2 clicks away. We've visited sites that were similar to a rat maze. In some cases we never did find the cheese, so confusing was the site. Make sure that your site is organized perhaps in a manner similar to a table of contents, or a directory, or a magazine cover. There is no one standard way to design your page, but in general it should fit the needs of your company and be user friendly.

5) Sites designed from the company perspective not the customers.
We've seen too many sites where the first thing that you see (or wait to see while it loads) is a huge company logo. In reality, the company logo is of no interest to customers; it gives them narrative information that is useful for all of 10 seconds. Benefits to the customer are more important to a visitor so that he/she feels the site is directed at them personally.

6) Sites that are pretty but useless.
The Internet is filled with sites that are cool, fun, informative, imaginative and some that are just plain useless. Research shows that a growing number of Internet users are just browsers; that it they are seeking information. If you've been on the web you know what we mean by useless. Do you really have the time to create a virtual hot-dog? Do you even care to listen to a page with a variety of sneezes? Do you have better things to do than examine a web site about shoe laces? Aside from the novel and perhaps juvenile interest in pages like these, they don't serve a purpose other than perhaps entertainment. In the world of business, the generation of profit is the purpose of a web site. Your site must be useful to both you and your prospects. Everything on your page must be done purposefully; to educate; to inform; to emphasize; to promote; to create leads; to create sales; to motivate a customer response; to encourage interaction; to encourage prospects to return to your site; and ultimately to create profits for your company.

7) No consideration to how various Internet browsers will see the web pages.
Too many companies have made the mistake of allowing inexperienced web
developers to put up an "image map" (hyperlinked graphic to secondary pages in the site) that is not supported by some browsers. Problems arise when visitors with older type browsers may
not see the graphic, or can see it but cannot access the hyperlink within the
image map. It doesn't matter how wonderful your site appears in the web developers office if it can't be seen and navigated by the rest of the Internet audience.

8) No web site promotion online or off.
Although more people are realizing that one of the keys to a web site's success is promotion, too many underestimate the importance of this. Before the Internet was in vogue as it is now, we knew of a company that arranged for the CEO's niece to put up a web site for the company. The 12 year old did it in about an hour and did a pretty darn good job. The site was considered more of a novelty and coffee room discussion topic than a powerful marketing tool at the time. The critical error this company made was in not considering formal promotion of their web site. Today businesses continue to make this same mistake.Today, businesses with a sense of urgency about getting left behind, are scrambling to get a web site. Companies are spending thousands of dollars to have professional web developers design a site but are still not capitalizing on their site by promoting its existence. It seems that no one is using any common sense, instead they wait for someone to show them what to do. Case in point; despite the fact that hundreds of Fortune 500 companies have been on the web for some time now, it wasn't until recently that any of them have been promoting their web site and e-mail addresses with the same importance as they do their phone numbers and mailing addresses. Today if you watch a commercial or a news station what do you see? More and more you see a web address and e-mail addresses either during a commercial or at the end of a broadcast. Eureka! The message is finally getting through; a web site that is not promoted is a waste of time and money.
Traditional print media promotion is paramount to web site success but so too is Internet promotion. Your service provider should be well versed in promotion on the Internet. Internet promotion can and should be done on at least 6 levels; search engines, newsgroups, list servers, classifieds, e-zines, and electronic publication broadcasts. By using as many of these methods as you can you dramatically increase the ability for Internet surfers to find your site, quickly and easily, from anywhere in the world.

9) External links that take visitors away from the site.
Long ago (in the Internet world, 6 months ago) the "in" thing to do was to have a "Cool Sites" section to your web site. This usually would be in the form of a list of other pages on the web where visitors were recommended to visit. This idea arose in part as a way to share resources, offer your own favorite picks, showcase your buddies site and add "fill" to your site. But in general this practice was in keeping with the spirit of the Internet which is sharing of free information in a vast arena. But from a commercial point of view, external links are not always a good idea. The exception of course is organizations that have no commercial interest in their site other than for the provision of information or education; in these cases links to sites of related interest makes sense. But for a commercial organization to pay big bucks for a web site and then offer links to a competitor or an unrelated site is unwise. You've worked hard to bring people into your site now why would you provide them with an escape hatch, a blackhole where they can slip out of your site into cyberspace, perhaps never to venture back to your site again.
This is a mistake that we've seen companies make, thinking that they are providing their customers with useful information while actually sending customers away from their site and onto another one. The exception to this are link exchanges which sometimes can be a good idea. Link exchanges involve swapping links or banners ads with related but not competitive sites. For example if at your site you are providing basic web site design but not graphics design, and another web site is promoting their graphic design service, a link swamp would benefit both parties without taking customers away from one another. As a general rule don't go overboard on link exchanges, choose link exchanges that you will benefit from the most.

10) Lack of a resource box (contact information) in a prominent place on the main page of the web site.
This very important information including mailing address, phone, fax, fax on demand, and e-mail address should appear prominently on your home page. Visitors should not have to search for this information it should be right there for their convenience.

11) No planning or thought about providing reasons for visitors to come to your web site.
If you think the fact that your company is on the web is a reason for people to come - you're dead wrong. You MUST give people a reason to visit your site; free recipes, free software, Internet customer discount, product announcements, online magazine, electronic newsletter, chat room, prize giveaway, contests, cool things, games. Whatever suits your business, is practical and reasonable, and appeals to visitors of your site should be used to bring visitors in.

12) Lack of consideration about how to get visitors to come back to the site once they've visited. So you're getting a lot of traffic to your site through your marketing campaign. But what have you done at your site to get these people to come back and see you again or order again in the future. One wise company applied the concept of frequent purchase bonuses to their web site when they realized that site visitors may never return again, or be lost to a competitor if they were not rewarded in some way. In addition to offering an exciting interactive site that was useful to the customer and updated regularly she introduced a "Frequent Buyer Program." Each time a visitor reorders they receive a discount on their next order. Although Internet purchases are more convenient that purchasing at a local store, consumer confidence is still somewhat shaky and involves a change in buying habits. This example company has overcome these hurdles with secure ordering, purchase incentives, and guaranteed delivery.

13) Failure to access the names, addresses and demographic information from people who visit your site.
Guest books are a good way to do this or offer something for free
newsletter, brochure etc. for anyone who e-mails you. You need to know who is visiting your site, why
and how often so you can better target your market, and for follow up with
these people if you need to.

14) Failure to change the site periodically.
If you owned a store in a retail mall would you put up a window display and then leave it the same way for the next 6 months through the changing seasons and buying trends. No, you wouldn't, so why do many companies put up a web site then never change it, update it or improve it? Perhaps they are ignorant or just plain lazy. If you are going to invest in a web site don't waste your money by putting it up and forgetting about it. New Internet technology continues to becomes available. A year ago many sites were just text based, now we have sites with video, sound and full colour moving graphics. Six months from now a whole new bag of technical goodies will be available. The other impetus for updating your site is for the possible legal implications. Recently a major airline was fined for not offering an updated price on their web site. It is the advertisers responsibility to offer current information at their site just as is the case in other forms of media.

15) Failure to be innovative and different by doing what everybody else is doing.
Capitalize on the uniqueness of your business. The Internet has added a whole new facet to advertising. It is a world where the customer can interact with the merchant in ways never available before. Take the example of a Canadian florist company (Virtual Flowers,) who developed a web site with a competitive difference. If you have been on the web you will know that thousands of florists are online making the choice for the consumer difficult and competitive for the merchants. What Virtual Flowers did was offer a creative way to get web surfers to come to their site and in doing so subtly impressed their company upon them for future floral purchases. At the company site you can send a bouquet of flowers to someone anywhere in the world who has e-mail and web access. This idea was not a new one on the web but the application to sending flowers was, and has won this site a huge amount of traffic and no doubt purchases.

16) Failure to consider the web site in terms of a legal framework and obtain insurance and legal protection.
Advertising whether it be in the print media or electronic is subject to certain legal requirements including copyright law and liability. For example if you offer a chat room at your web site where visitors can post messages, as the advertiser you may find yourself legally responsible for this posting if it is found to be slanderous. If you have a large web site that encourages interaction from visitors in the form of new groups or chat groups you may want to investigate insurance. Our general recommendation is that due to the legal implications that you avoid web site content that is pornographic, or generally offensive. For matters related to legal elements, consult with a lawyer and insurance agency that has direct experience with the unique hazards of the Internet. Keep in mind these fatal mistakes that companies have made with their web sites when you create your own. Fortunately, on the web most mistakes can easily and quickly be corrected.





George Kosch, MSc. is the Senior Technical Officer for Incor Enterprises Inc., and the Systems Manager of Dr. Jeffrey Lant's Worldprofit Malls, Sandra Hunter, BST., BSW., BA, is the Director of Web Site Development. Incor Enterprises has established web sites for thousands of companies looking to expand their business to an international level by establishing a presence on the World Wide Web. To see what Incor can do for your business or service on the web, visit: www.incor.com