Setting up a website for your business is easier than ever, but still, many owners have no idea what they’re doing. Then they wonder why their site is not converting. Not only can a bad site frustrate visitors, but it could also have a lasting negative effect on your brand. You have to make sure that you don’t commit crucial mistakes that will make your website look unprofessional. Let’s take a look at a few mistakes people make when setting up their business website.

Choosing the Wrong Platform

When it comes to website building platforms, a lot of people will tend to go with the option everybody else uses. But that might not necessarily be the best option for you. For instance, a lot of people will think that WordPress is the only way.

While WordPress is great, it does have a learning curve. And, even if you can set up a WordPress website pretty quickly, fixing issues can be difficult and you’ll most likely have to hire some help.

Contrast that with a tool like Weebly. You should choose Weebly to build a website if you have little to no experience building sites. These require no coding experience at all and have an easy to use drag and drop interface. Plus, you’ll be able to contact support if you have any issues.

So, don’t assume the popular platforms are the only option and that the lesser-known ones are poor quality. Do your research instead.

Opting for Shared Hosting

While it’s understandable for a new business with a limited budget to opt for the cheapest solution possible, if you can afford it, it’s wise to move to a dedicated option as soon as possible. Sticking with a shared hosting plan can be detrimental in many ways.

For one, if one of the websites on your shared server sees a massive surge in traffic, it will affect your site’s performance. Also, shared hosting tends to be slower on average when compared to other options, and speed is one of Google’s ranking criteria, so your SEO could end up suffering.

Also, a choppy site that loads slowly is one of the main reasons why people bounce out of sites and never return. And, guess what? Bounce rates are another ranking criterion, so that’s even more SEO damage.

So, do yourself a favor and at least opt for VPS hosting if the money is tight. This is the perfect middle ground between a dedicated server and a shared server and it’s pretty affordable, so there’s no reason for you to share bandwidth with others.

Not Testing

You should always test and tweak aspects of your site. You should try different headlines, colors, ways of navigation, etc. You need to monitor the results and see which modifications work and which don’t. You also have to do this one step at a time. If you test too many things at once, you won’t know which one made a difference. So, test different aspects one at a time, and implement changes to your website gradually.

Not Capturing Emails

This is one of the worst mistakes that you can make. There is no reason for you to lose potential customers who have visited your site. You should at least try to find a way to get their email address so you can follow up with them. 

Your email list could end up becoming one of your most valuable assets. It could allow you to create tons of publicity for cheap. Launches will also become much easier. So, you need to make sure that you set up some sort of form or pop up prompting people to sign up for your newsletter, even if that means giving them a free gift or a bonus.

Trying to Trick the Search Engines

Too many website owners still try to trick the search engines by using keyword manipulation techniques. But Google has evolved greatly since the early days, and you can’t expect to jump positions by hitting some magical and fictitious keyword density threshold.

Not only is keyword manipulation ineffective, but it could eventually hurt your site. So, instead of trying to game the system, start on solid ground.

While you don’t want to make things obvious, you can use your main keywords sparingly on your home page. You still have to make sure they appear a few times – so the search engines know what your website is about – but you want it to be natural.

Everything else is about improving user experience and creating backlinks to your site from quality sources in the most organic way possible. This all starts with having a solid on-page and off-page content strategy.

Conclusion

These are only some of the mistakes people make when they set up a website for their business. Avoid these, and you’ll get better results with your clients and might get an extra push from the search engines.