5 Mistakes to Avoid when Starting a New Site

When starting a new website there are a number of mistakes that you have to avoid to have the big success on the long term. Here are 5 popular mistakes that can cripple your chances of building an effective website.

Free or Cheap Web Hosting

It’s understandable that someone would want a low-priced or free hosting company when starting a new website, but this can have serious consequences. Free hosting will be slow and will most likely include ads on your website that you have no control over. Even low-priced hosting tends to be slow and the customer service and support will almost certainly be inadequate.

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Not Buying a Domain Name

If you want your online business to be taken seriously, you need your own domain name. Many free hosting services, including blog platforms like WordPress, offer the option of having a website without needing to buy a domain name. Domain names are so inexpensive (can be less than $10 a year) that there’s no reason to not buy a domain. Your domain name is crucial for being able to brand your website.

Designing Exclusively for Search Engines

In attempt to gain strong search engine rankings, the human visitor is sometimes forgotten. Don’t prioritize search engine spiders over your visitors. It’s possible to design a user-focused website that is still search engine-friendly. If your website satisfies its visitors the traffic will come, and most likely so will search engine rankings.

Prioritizing the Look Over the Content

A lot of new website owners get excited about the new site and forget that the content is what will ultimately determine it’s success. Sure, a website should look good. But the content and usability of the site shouldn’t suffer at the expense of its appearance. Minimalistic designs are becoming increasingly popular, and one of the biggest reasons is that they allow for the content to be the focal point. Just as much time and effort should go into creating the content as goes into creating the design.

Ineffective Keyword Targeting

Part of attracting new visitors is using the right keywords and phrases. In most cases some research will be necessary to find the best words and phrases to target. There are a number of tools available to help with this research (some free and some paid). Google’s keyword tool is one of the better free options.

So, just try to avoid these mistakes and follow instruction and you’ll build a successful website, especially focus on good content and everything will be fine.