We have reached the end of our series! Its true, so many little things can ruin your entire website. In the series I tried to touch on each of the most common pages businesses place on their site and then discusses the top ten worst things for each. Here we'll do a quick summary of those lists.

But what I want you to take away is this: your website is part of your branding. Make sure every page, every line of text exemplifies who you are as a company. That's the best way to create a great website.

HomePage

1. Too much text
2. Unclear navigation
3. Clutter
4. Screaming Colors
5. Forgetting the Bottom Line
6. No Logo or Branding
7. Flash
8. Too Much Scrolling
9. Ads Taking Up the Top Half of Your Page
10. Skimping in the Design Department

About

1. Huge Pictures of Yourself in Classic Realtor Style
2. Writing for Yourself, Not Your Audience
3. Removing Distinction Between You & Your Company
4. Text Overload
5. Being Boring
6. Not Optimized
7. Repetition from Home Page
8. No Formatting
9. Failure to Highlight the Important Part
10. No Purpose

Contact

1. Wrong Information
2. No Information
3. Contact Form Error
4. Never Hooking Your Email Up to Your Contact Form
5. Never Checking the Email Connected to Your Contact Form
6. Requiring Someone's Birth Certificate Before They can Use Your Form
7. Making the Form Look Too Long
8. Hiding Your Phone Number
9. Excessive Text
10. TMI

Shopping Cart

1. Log-In Hell
2. Not Saving Contact Information
3. Deleting Everything When There is an Input Error
4. Not Putting the Cart Front & Center
5. Not Giving Prices Upfront
6. Making the Process More than 3 Steps
7. Long Load Time
8. No Options
9. Errors
10. Charging the Wrong Amount

Blog

1. Hiding the RSS Feed
2. Captcha Doesn't Work to Comment
3. Requiring a Log-in to Comment
4. No Structure in Posts
5. Design doesn't Mesh with Website
6. Blog Content Doesn't Match Goal of Website
7. 5th Grade Writing Level - Sometimes You Should Pay for Content
8. Not Using Your Own Work (Or At Least Claiming its Yours When it isn't)
9. Not Taking Advantage of Titles
10. Clutter

Did you enjoy this series? Is there page you think should be added to the list?

Cheating may be a little dramatic, but its true that not all web design companies are created equal. There are plenty of lies told by seductive salesmen to sweet naive companies to get them... into bed, so to speak. Here are the top 5 lies I hear most often from other companies, or second hand through clients who've been burnt. No particular order. (Note: I've cranked up the sleazy tone on these a bit, to make you laugh, especially the ladies, but the core concepts are very serious.) Watch for the absolutes, both cheating men and webmasters like to use them!

Tell-Tale Lies to Listen for

1. "This design is individual just for you." Is it really? Get samples of previous work from a designer. Does everything look the same? Same format all the time? Be careful, a design isn't individual just because you can customize your logo and drop in your own text.
2. "The most important thing is design." Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge believer that design makes or breaks a site. However, don't let someone convince you that a great design outweighs sound coding. The two elements should always work together.
3. "Everyone charges a monthly fee for upkeep." Errrrnt! Wrong. Simple websites rarely require upkeep. If you don't have any interactive features you probably only will need to update keywords, not edit your whole site. If a monthly fee accompanies a proposal, make sure you find out exactly what it covers. (The other explanation for monthly fees is "hosting". More on this here.)
4. "SEO costs extra. Its never part of the coding process." I'm not referring to extra money for keyword research or link building or even content creation, just SEO within your code. If you build a site from scratch, a lot of your keywords and meta data will be included in that process. Let's be blunt, anyone who creates a website then says "Oh, and its extra to optimize that code I just did" is cheating you.
5. "Your website or social media or email or whatever is the only marketing your company needs." This might be the biggest lie in advertising across the board. Every "specialist" is going to tell you their form of marketing is the best. Look, its just not. Your website might reach one target audience but may you also need newspaper ads to reach the others. Marketing should be a cohesive effort, and rarely does putting all your efforts in one medium result in success. If someone whispers this to you over candlelight dinner or even coffee, run away.

When you work with a web design company, listen for those absolutes, be on guard for lies. And if you ever hear: "Don't worry baby, I'll take care of everything." Drop 'em. Any company that doesn't at least offer to educate you, is taking advantage of you somewhere. I haven't plenty of clients who don't want the "details" but I still let them know why we do certain things and offer to explain everything. Ask questions. Do a little research. You are a strong, independent company in your own right; don't let a webmaster cheat on you!

Have you ever been lied to by a web design company? How did it make you feel? What did you do?

Image by WhatMegSaid

Secondary Note: I'd like to ask you your opinion about something that has been bugging me, in addition to the question above. Having been in the online marketing industry for a while now, I see these lies from companies all the time. However, sometimes I think companies just starting out don't know any better. They think they have to charge random fees to be competitive, or they don't completely understand organic SEO. My question is: What do I do? Do I say something to these baby companies, struggling to make things work or ignore them? And if I should say something.... what do I say? I really appreciate your thoughts and advice.

If don't have a website (and I seriously hope that is not the case) and you are considering getting one, here's a little "head's up" for your checklist.

Many web design companies do not include hosting in their package. Our company works like that. If someone asks me: "How much is a website?" I'll usually answer by asking them to be more specific. (Because its a loaded question that has no simple price attached to it.) After a discussion about features and functionality I can give them an estimate. I never include hosting in that price. There's a number of reasons for this.

1. You may have already bought your hosting. Lots of people have a general idea of how to get their website started. Or they have a basic template up somewhere and want to start over.
2. You may want to manage your own hosting. If your website isn't very big, you won't need a lot of hosting. Companies will charge a set-up or handling fee. Its usually a small fee (ours is usually 5-10 dollars), but in this economy it’s a good idea to cut corners where you can.
3. You might need more space. Most people starting their first website have very basic needs: calendars, contact forms, a blog, 5-6 static pages… they don't need a server. But occasionally you do. When that happens, you might need to talk directly to a company that specializes in hosting.

Things to watch out for when you are considering hosting:

• Unless you are considering a huge website (option 3 above) you probably don't need a ton of space or features. (And if you ever do, most companies will let you upgrade.) If you have a mostly static site with some basic features you shouldn't be paying over $200 a year (probably even $100).
• Be wary of monthly fees that web design companies give you. If they say "hosting included" then charge a monthly "upkeep" fee this means they are probably making a ton of money off you every month, possibly for years. You can pay monthly for hosting from hosting companies, but it's usually cheaper and smarter to pay for a year upfront.
• Cheap hosting that covers most peoples' needs will run less than $10 a month and usually paid a year or more in advance.

I'm a fan of GoDaddy and Eleven2. Do you have a hosting company you recommend?

"There’s no excuse for no contact form" said Elizabeth Able (ablereach) on my Top 100 Internet Blunders Committed by Businesses post. And Chris Lucas from iMedia recently wrote a great article about making your contact form work harder for you. He covers some basics like not to make your form intimidating and make sure you are doing something with the information details people give you.

But how does your contact form work for you---or does it even work at all? Of course, it important to provide a way for possible clients contact you, but why should they? A lot of businesses only have their contact form filled out by marketing people (aka glorified spam), if they ever get used at all. So how do you get people to actually use your contact form for the purpose you want them to?

1. Decide what you want your contact form to do for you. It surprises me how many people don't actually have a well-thought out reason. Why do you want people to contact you? Have a clear, defined purpose. If possible, write it down.
2. Have a compelling reason for people to contact you. Now that you've figured out why people should contact you, make sure your site backs it up. If you want people to contact you about a quote or to set an appointment, clarify that at other points on your website. Make everything lead up to the ultimate thing you want your website to do: provide revenue.
3. Make your contact form the simple next step. We live in a generation of ADD people (diagnosed and those of us who just neurotically multitask), so when some reads great content on your site and decides to contact you, make it easy. You want to be right there when someone has the impulse to talk to you. (So make sure you read Chris's article, he mentions mechanics... the worst thing is to have a useless contact form and miss the window.) On certain pages where contacting you is the obvious next step, hyperlink to your form.
4. Respond to your contact form in 24 hours or less. It sounds simple, but some people just put off responding or checking their contact email. If your contact form goes to a secondary email address (like mine goes to contact@veribatim.com) make sure someone is regularly checking it. Set it up to go to your outlook or other mail service. If you check your email at least once a day, you should be able to respond and make your customer feel loved.This can also help you land those time-sensitive opportunities.
5. Reward people who use your contact form. After you've promptly responded, give your client something extra. It doesn't have to be a free gift or a discount (but those are good ideas), it can be more creative, like offering a link exchange. But go the extra mile and watch more people contact you!
6. Follow-up & Survey. Often the follow-up can be more important than the initial contact (ask your local sales guy where they get the most referrals). Its true, even online. Follow-up with people who've contacted you through your site. Even if its just to survey them. Ask them how they found your site, why they used the contact form instead of calling and if they were satisfied with your turn-around time.

Have you thought about the purpose of your contact form? I challenge you to write out a sentence about why you have one and what you want people to use it for. (Feel free to share!)

View full image here.

I know many, many people have felt like this, as both a customer and a service provider. And I think with websites in particular, there is a problem. What the client wants and what the client gets are not always the same thing. It feels like many websites are just lost in translations. The buyer is unhappy with the result which in turn, makes the seller unhappy. Unfortunately, the situation is often lose-lose.

I want to discuss some of the general issues with web design; the reasons a good website gets lost. Then I want to cover ways to simplify this process for both the buyer and seller and hopefully safe both sides hassle.

Issues:

• Terminology - Programmers and other "tech" people use a specific kind of language, just like lawyers, doctors and other professionals. The average person might not know what CSS or RSS is.

• Design - Many web designers are amazing artists. The consumer sees a design and knows if they like it or not, but that doesn't mean they can always describe what they want.

• Function - Ever done your own business taxes? Sucks, doesn't it? You never really know how much you need an expert until you've tried it yourself. Clients often don't understand how much coding goes into a project. To them, it looks like clicking a button, when it really may take an hour to create one action.

• Time & Money - Both parties, the buyer and the seller, know their time is valuable. They both want the best deal for the money. However, these two sides may not sync up all the time. Who qualifies the worth of the service?

Solutions:

Terminology

• Buyer: Know, up front, the seller is not purposefully trying to confuse. He isn't using tech jargon to make you feel inadequate. Don't get defensive. Relax, ask questions. The seller should be happy to share what he knows. Use that to your advantage!

• Seller: Be patient. Pay attention to the buyer, if he looks confused; stop. Try to explain in simpler terms. Make sure to explain abbreviations. Also, once you've explained, go back over it. Ask questions to gauge the buyer's level of understanding. (As an aside: most people have some tech knowledge. When trying to simplify don't go too far in the other direction. Don't ever treat your client like they are stupid.)

Design

• Buyer: Even if you are unsure about what you want, try to give as much information as possible. It can be very frustrating when you don't offer any guidelines but find fault with all the draft examples. Think of websites you like, and try to figure out why. Give examples. Think about layout, colors and design elements. If you can't think of anything, say what you DON'T want! Most design companies have a limit on the changes you can make, so be as clear as you can upfront.

• Seller: Ask lots of questions. I've learned the hard way that if the buyer doesn't give you any leads, create some. Use your own samples with yes or no questions: "Do you like this?" "Do you like the color?" "Do you like the font?" "Do you like where the text is?" Trust me, the less unknowns you are dealing with, the less redesigns you'll do. Never, ever accept: "Whatever you think will look best."

Function

• Buyer: Examples, examples, examples. I can't say this enough. If you aren't a tech person, show-and-tell is the best way to get across your meaning. Keep in mind: if you can only find one or two examples of what you want, the programming is probably more extensive; be prepared to pay the difference. Remember technology is like a good magic trick: easier than it looks.

• Seller: Be very upfront about what you can and can't do, along with the associated prices. A client may think your job is easy. Its okay to gently explain the amount of time and effort you put in. In fact, knowing how much work you do could make them more appreciative. Don't be afraid to say no, either. In fact, find other companies or individuals you can refer to. Great mutual business relationships have been built on this.

Time & Money

• Buyer: Web design is a service. We're in business to make money. So please don't ask for free things. We have rent and families, too. Also, our time is valuable. If he takes time out of his schedule to meet with you, be considerate. DO NOT take his ideas and give them to someone who will do it cheaper. (I know these two points are common sense, but it happens... a lot.) If you have questions/changes/concerns, give them to the seller in a reasonable amount of time. Communication is key.

• Seller: Same principles, communication is key. I used to get emails that had questions or problems. I would deal with them immediately. But sometimes the results would take a while, maybe days. Then the customer would be frustrated with me, even though I went out of my way to solve the problem. So I learned to answer phone calls and emails immediately. I would tell them my plan of action and let them know it was being worked on, even though it might take time. The results were fabulous. I was now the hero! The lesson here is: its okay to tell your client how great you are and what awesome things you do for them, its not bragging, its selling. Explain why you make your prices what they are, make sure your client understands how you and your service are valuable. Suddenly they feel their time was well spent and the money is a bargain

Obviously, I have more experience as a seller than a buyer, and I'm still learning. But I think communication and using examples are key to a successful relationship. I'm sure some sales people have things they would add and I love the feedback!