3+1 common mistakes SMEs make while creating a website

Posted by Urjita Kshatriya on December 30th, 2020

It is common knowledge that a website is a business's online real estate space. It is expected that just like one would protect and take care of their shop in the real world, they would also maintain similar levels of caution with their website. However, many small businesses commit these common mistakes and eliminating those would go a long way in boosting their chances of success.

Mistake 1: Going for a multi-page website when they do not have much content.

Certain types of products or services are direct and do not really need a multi-page website. However, there can be a mindset that a website needs to have the regular Home, About Us, Contact Us, Career pages. This leads to unnecessary creation of a multiple page website.

From the SEO prospective, it does make sense to go for a multiple page website. When a business is clear that they do not want to go for SEO and their products/services can be easily covered in a single page website then why waste the time and money to build a multiple page? Not to mention, the poor user experience that this kind of website will generate since there is hardly any value for the visitor who will spend more time navigating the website than gaining information.

Mistake 2: Populating all the possible social media icons in the footer irrespective of whether those are redirected to the appropriate social media pages or not. 

Social media icons on the website are supposed to send users to the business’s pages on the corresponding social media platform and not just used as pretty buttons. If your website visitors click on those icons and nothing happens or if they are redirected to the website or your personal pages on social media, then again it’s a poor user experience and will turn off the users.

Mistake 3: Getting the domain registered on web developer’s name. 

While getting the website created, most businesses would prefer a single vendor to handle the domain, hosting and development so that there is a single point of responsibility. As mentioned at the start of this blog, your website is your online real estate space. In the real world, do you register the property on the broker’s name? No. Likewise, even though the web developer may act as an agent to suggest and buy the domain, the registration of the domain should be on your business’s name and the credentials to renew the same should be available with you.

Mistake 4: Not taking a mobile-first approach.

It’s surprising that even in today’s world when we know that we are constantly on mobile, businesses still miss out on thinking about their website visitors accordingly. 70-80% of your website visitors will be checking the website on mobile. It makes business sense to optimise the website for mobile devices, especially media like the product photos for mobile visitors. 

In conclusion, while eliminating these mistakes is not too difficult, the positive impact that this has on the business profits is huge. Based on Idecution’s experience in running a digital marketing agency since 2016, we have observed that when SMEs treat their website as a sales tool, we have been able to get more visibility, awareness and quality leads for their business.