This post aims to cover a few mistakes to avoid when starting a new site. They are mistakes seen all the time, and have been committed by most people.
1. Cluttered site focus
Any new site needs to have a clear focus. It’s is important to start small, and expand over time. A cluttered or rambling site can really make users hit the back button. If you are selling goods, start with blue widgets. Once that is setup and running well, expand to selling all widgets. Then add gadgets and so on. Not only will this make your life easier, your visitors will be very grateful.
2. Bad SEO practices
SEO can be extremely important, especially with small or new sites. You really need to get every visitor you can, while having to compete with no site authority or link juice to go around. You want to choose if you’re going to use www. in your domain or not, and stick to that. You will also want to use Apache .htaccess directives to force everyone to that preference, so you don’t split page strength between the versions. This is often the biggest mistake site owners make. You will also want to choose a smart URL structure, making sure to avoid dynamic URLs whenever possible. This can also be done with .htaccess directives. Using mod_rewrite you can make sure you get keyword into your URLs which will be very helpful.
3. Layout pitfalls
Unconventional layouts can be useful for getting a few links, but conventions exist for a reason. Most users expect certain elements to be in certain places. If your menu is in the lower right corner of your site, users won’t be able to find it and will leave. Green text on a red background? No one will be able to read it. Users like simple designs with a "clean" feel.
4. Choosing the wrong host
Choosing the wrong host can lead to a lot of headaches. You’ll want to make sure you’re getting a host with at least 99.9% uptime, and the third party tracking to prove it. In most cases you’ll want to stay away from hosts that offer hundreds of GB of storage and bandwidth for a few dollars a month. How can they offer the resources of a server on 2-3% of the budget? Something has to give. You’ll also want to make sure that any web scripts you want to run will work with the host you’re choosing. Want to run an asp.net script? Find a Windows host. Need to run a php script? Make sure it’s installed on the server.
5. Not understanding your site technology
Many sites these days are built on CMS systems like Mambo or Joomla, or blog systems like WordPress. If you intend to run a site on one of these systems it is vitally important you have at least some grasp of how they work, if you expect to have a positive experience running your site. Mambo, Joomla, and WordPress all have active user communities that are very willing to answer any questions you might have. These communities are also filled with thousands of questions that have already been answered, asked by new users. Search around and you’re likely to find answers to any questions you might have.
Do you have any other mistakes people should avoid?
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