Even with the best intentions, common mistakes can creep in and weaken your message, damage your credibility, or even impact your search rankings. The good news? Most of them have simple enough fixes. Let’s dive into a few of the biggest website mistakes and how to avoid them.
Inconsistent Voice
If you don’t have a defined brand voice, your website may be missing the mark. This disconnect often happens when different departments write their own pages. Or even when older pages were written by a different person than the more recent ones. It may not seem like a big deal. No one reads your website like a novel, after all. BUT (of course, there’s a but), a consistent brand voice is the key to building trust and credibility with your audience. When visitors click through your site, you want them to have a consistent and engaging experience. Essentially, you want your website to sound like you — authentic and unmistakably yours!
The Solution?
The solution is a two-step process. First, you need a defined brand voice. If you have multiple people writing for your brand, this is the only surefire way to ensure everyone is on the same page. Next, you need someone (or multiple someones) to use that brand voice guide to revise and refresh your existing website copy to match.
Worrying Too Much About SEO
That’s right, worrying too much about SEO is a big website mistake. I know what you’re thinking: “What do you mean? I want to rank at the top of search engine results.” Well, I didn’t say, “Don’t worry about SEO at all.” I just mean that you need to take a strategic, balanced approach to SEO.
By now, we’ve all seen a website stuffed to the sitemap with SEO copy. Walls of text. Boring headers like “Website Copywriters in Birmingham, AL.” Buzzword overload. Keyword stuffing. While it may help you show up higher in search results (some research says it might do the opposite), what kind of user experience are you giving your users once they click on your site? Not a very good one. If you decide to write for crawlers, then you chose to NOT write for your audience.
The Solution?
It’s a cliché — write it, and they will come. But it’s a cliché for a reason. When you write for your audience, maintain your brand voice, and use keywords where they’re natural, then you’re providing a good user experience. Google recognizes that and rewards you for it.
Too Much (or Not Enough) Copy
When I coach clients through writing their own website copy, one of the first questions is, “How much should I write?” No one likes the answer: it depends.
Writing website copy isn’t like writing a school paper — you’re not hitting a word count. You need to make it as long as it needs to be to tell your story and get your audience the information they need. However, I always err on the side of being more concise. Your website visitors aren’t there to read a novel. They want to quickly and easily find the information they want before moving on to the next thing. You only have a few seconds to grab their attention, so make it count.
On the other hand, that doesn’t mean you don’t need any copy. I hear many clients say, “People don’t read anyway.” Well, some don’t — you’re right there. But you know who does? Google. Know who else reads? Plenty of people! And why would you purposely leave out some potential customers or clients? Not to mention, having little to no website copy immediately makes it harder for people to trust you. If you don’t care enough about your business to take the time to write something down, why should they trust you?
The Solution?
Stick to best practices. They’re best practices for a reason, after all. When in doubt, hire a professional copywriter to help you get the job done.
Irregular Blogging
Picture this: You need a landscaper, and you’re researching companies to pick the best one. You click through the About page to learn a little about the company. They sound legit. You check out their services pages. Yep, they offer the services you need. Then, you click on their blog page, and — wait, they haven’t posted anything in three years? Are they even still in business? Yikes. Guess it can’t hurt to keep searching.
The Solution?
The goal of a blog is usually to build trust and establish yourself as an industry expert. If you only post once every year, you’re likely doing the opposite. In a perfect world, the best solution is to blog regularly. Sit down, create a calendar, and stick to it. But we (unfortunately) don’t live in a perfect world. The next best thing is to remove the dates from your blogs. This shortcut might fool visitors, but it won’t fool Google. Realistically, if you can’t stick to blogging regularly, it may be best just to cut your blog altogether.
What’s Next?
If you’ve made it this far, chances are you’ve spotted at least one of these mistakes on your own website. So, what’s next? Grab a cup of coffee, pull up your site, and start taking notes. Identify what needs improvement, then create a strategy to fix it. Small changes can have a big impact. Your website is an investment — make sure it’s working as hard as it should be.