Does your Website Suck?

Ugly is subjective

I am a website snob - I admit it. I look at websites all the time and I can tell you whether or not a website is ugly or not - I’m smart like that. But you know what? That doesn’t really mean anything. The look of a site is subjective.

Typically though, a website is deemed good or bad based on how it looks. I’ve seen a lot of websites that I would consider “cosmetically challenged” but that is not the sole criteria for success of a website. I’ve also seen plenty of great looking sites that were coding nightmares and failed to meet user and business needs. There are other things that need to be considered when you’re trying to determine whether or not your website sucks.

Is your website useful to your visitors?

Are you providing the content that your customers are looking for? If customers consistently call for your hours of operation, your mailing address or asking about a product you carry, maybe that’s an indication of an improvement that could be made to your site. Maybe this content is available on your site but a poor navigation design is preventing people from finding it. Many people will check your website before they ever pick up the phone to call you. Make sure they’re finding what they need on your site and not your competitor’s.

Does your website play up your company benefits or USP? Do you have plenty of free parking, unusual product lines or the most knowledgeable staff in your industry? Your website can always be doing more than you think.

Is your domain name easy to remember?

Do you have a domain name that’s easy to find or remember? Findability starts here. Are you using an obscure domain extension simply because it was available or something convoluted like http://www.inexpensivesolution.ab.neverfound.com? Whenever possible, try to secure a .com extension. It’s the most common extension for commercial businesses. Failing that, you can try for a .ca extension (for Canadian businesses). And you don’t always need to have a domain name that matches your company name. For example, if your company is Massive Industries and that domain is taken you could have a domain name like http://www.madebymassive.com or http://www.massivequality.com. Get it? Just be careful you don’t accidentally create a a terrible domain name.

Is your site properly coded?

This is probably one the hardest question for a business owner to answer. After all, how can you tell just by looking at a website? The truth is, you can’t unless you know what to look for or you have someone review the code that lies beneath what is rendered in your web browser.

What difference does that underlying code make? A poorly coded site can make it harder or even impossible for search engines to crawl through your content. If search engines cannot determine what your site is about they cannot create an accurate listing for your business which in turn can make it harder for your customers to find you when they’re ready to buy. That’s one reason you may find yourself on page eight of Google.

Is your site accessible?

Accessibility is not just “making your site friendlier for the visually impaired”. Accessibility also means making your website available on the widest range of browsers and web capable devices like PDAs. You never know who is going to visit your site and what they are going to use to view it with.

These are just a few things to consider the next time you redesign your website. If you are in the process of building a new one now make sure you’re going to wind up with a final product that works for your business and your customers.