The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Online Businesses

Marketing a business online, despite all the claims of overnight success, takes a lot of work. Don't make your job harder by making these seven errors.

1. Many online business owners fail to add basic SEO into the creation of their website. On page SEO is not rocket science. Take this extra step as you build each page. Research and choose keywords and page titles carefully. Use these keywords discretely throughout the copy on your page along with other related terms to support the theme of you topic.

Much is written about meta tags not being important, but keep in mind that the content you supply in your meta tags will probably what the search engines display in the search results. Will what you have to say capture the interest of people searching on the web for your topic and keyword?

2. Keep your navigation simple. don't make your visitors struggle to move around within your website, and find what they are looking for.

3. Don't have cluttered pages. You can always build another page if you need more space. You will lose the focus of your visitors if your pages are too cluttered, and offer too many options.

4. Audio can be a great tool for an online business, but if not handled carefully it can also irritate many people. Allow the visitor to activate the audio themselves after they have adjusted their speakers.

5. Don't make your visitors struggle to read your site. I see many sites with a black background and deep blue text. It is a nightmare to read.

The other extreme is very faded text on a similar pastel background. This is also difficult to read. And make the text large enough so those who visit your site don't have to squint to read it.

6. Graphics can really liven your pages, especially if there is a lot of text, but keep them to a reasonable size and not too many per page. If your page takes too long to load you will lose most people.

7. Provide what your online business requires. You should provide some means of contact. If you provide no contact information on your website, it damages your credibility. If you sell products that have to be shipped, provide shipping information.

Getting traffic to a website takes a lot of work and time. Don't throw all that effort down the drain by making these mistakes and losing those who visit your online business and turn around and leave to find a website that is more pleasing.

These are all simple things to do. Take the time to make your online business website a pleasant place to visit, and you will keep visitors longer and potentially increase sales.