I look at a ton of Real Estate sites on any given day. Every now and then, I’ll come across a really good one like this one: http://www.joshgonzalez.com (designed by Kristian Themstrup).
But far too often, I also come across some really bad ones! Which is unfortunate because when you consider how much time and energy you put into something that’s supposed to be a marketing tool for you, it’s sad to see all that investment go to waste.
Why does it matter? Because no one…and I mean NO ONE, is going to want to work with you if your website sucks. Think about it. Ever come across a really bad website after Googling a specific term? What did you do, did you stay on the site or did you click away to the next search result? (I opt for the latter and I bet you do to). So yes, design matters.
That said, here’s…
10 Reasons Your Website Sucks (and what to do about it)
1. Your website header is too big! So much so that I can’t even see the navigation on your page without scrolling. Seriously, there’s no reason your header should be that thick. At the most, it should be about 150 pixels in height.
2. You have too many pages on your navigation. Seriously, 21 pages is too many pages for any site navigation. It’s too cluttered and it’s giving me a headache.
3. You’re stuffing your post titles with way too many keywords. Yes, keywords are important. But is this really necessary??
4. I can’t find your subscription options. So I came across this blog post (probably through a link shared on Twitter)… I read it. It was awesome. And when I went to subscribe, I couldn’t find the damn RSS button! Looked a little further and I’ll be damned… Do you know where it was? It was at the FOOTER OF THE SITE! Not on the sidebar, prominently placed at the top (above the fold) where everyone could see it.
5. Your sidebar is way to cluttered. You got way too much going on there. For a site reader, it’s like sitting at a messy desk or getting into a dirty car. Ok, so my analogies suck but whatever, you get the point, it’s just unproductive and ineffective. Your sidebar should contain your Call To Action(s). The simpler the better and the more likely someone is to actually do what you expect them to. Read: 5 Things Your Blog’s Sidebar Can’t Live Without and How To Use Blog Categories Effectively.
6. You don’t use pictures in your posts. Why does this matter? Well, because pictures help accomplish two things: 1.) a good picture captures people’s attention (this is important), 2.) a good pictures helps tell a better story. So, just as a general rule of thumb, each of your posts should contain (at least) one picture! Try places like Flickr, shutterstock (if you have to) and lastly, take your own photos.
7. Your website plays sound. So, I was on the phone with a client the other day and he said to me: “Ricardo, go to my site: iamawesome.com” So I did. And BAM!! Loud, blaring music. Like I was a concert or driving on the freeway with the top down and the music blaring. Anyway, I couldn’t find the “off” button (their designer did a great job of hiding it). Yes, I could’ve muted my speakers, but what if I was on Skype or something? Then I wouldn’t be able to hear the client. And besides, it’s just plain annoying (IMHO).
8. You use a popup (it’s designed poorly & doesn’t have a close button). One Agent, in an effort to drive site registrations, enabled a popup on every single page of his website. It’s not like it pops up once, recognizes you as a site visitor, and closes out. No. THIS popup comes up on EVERY. SINGLE. PAGE. It looks like crap and then…there’s no “x” button to close it out and hitting the escape key doesn’t work either. Hmm… Wonder how that’s working out.
9. You don’t have any contact information anywhere. So the other day, someone sent me a DM and asked me to call them. They didn’t leave a phone number in their DM so I clicked on their Twitter Profile to see if perhaps it was on their background page (cuz you know, some people do that sorta thing). Nope, nada. So I clicked on their website off of their bio. Check the sidebar, nothing. Click on the “Contact Us” page, nothing. Just a broken contact form and no email address. I tried the About page (you know, just in case)… Nothing. Now put yourself in the consumers perspective, say they read something they like from you and want to get in touch? Shouldn’t you make it AS EASY AS FREAKIN’ POSSIBLE for them to contact you? Whether that’s email, phone, etc.
10. You have a nice design but your content is 6 months old. This one’s the most unfortunate. You nailed it on just about everything (well, with respect to design anyway). Clean navigation, easy Call To Actions, etc. But your last post was six months ago. The next post after that is dated late 2009. Seems a shame to put such a good lookin’ website to waste. Remember: Consistency Matters.
Over to you!
How do you see people (companies) messing up their websites? More importantly, what are some of your suggestions for how they might improve them? The comments are yours… 🙂
I’m off to grab some fresh air!
Preach it brother! I sooo agree with every one of these points. Now, if people would only realize that they need to fix this stuff!
Unfortunately, a lot of people seem content with short-cutting their way through and can't seem to accept the fact that sometimes, just sometimes…it's well worth the financial investment to get someone to do certain things for you.
what about links that open new tabs !!!!
lol, good call Kenny… Good call…
Hi, I have to mention that I'm on the other side. I have a potential client on my website and I'm offering links to useful places on the net. If I open their page over mine I am way less likely to see them back again after they leave.
If I open the link in a new tab then I am still present in their browser. Of course links within a site doing this are not good.
Hi Mike,
That's what Kenny (tegan above) was referring to and recommending… That links to outside resources be opened in a new tab. This way, it increases the likelihood that someone stay on your site and you don't lose them to that outside resource. Simple, effective thing to implement 🙂
Thanks for the comment Mike!
I agree with your points Ricardo, I hate to visit those websites with popups and playing bad back ground music. Cluttering the site with lot of advertisements is another thing which makes the website look bad.
Hey Rojish,
Yep, agree with you on advertisements that clutter a website too. I think that there's a neat way to do things such as this and then of course a messy/annoying way to do it. Perhaps it's desperation that leads to people doing the latter?
Thanks for your comment!
Sites that have no white space kill me! Nothing makes me click away faster than huge blocks of dense text. Some people have no understanding of how to make a paragraph and it's exhausting. Make things visually appealing and easy on the eyes or else I'm outta there!
Ahh, good call Amber!! Totally agree with you. I hate sites that have nothing but big blocks of text, not photos and a ton of clutter.
I think it's that people feel *everything* is important. Once you finish putting one thing on there it's like, “oh, I forgot to add this!!” What they don't realize is that adding that last thing is probably more hurtful than it is helpful.
Thanks for droppin' in Amber!
Most people don't think about this, but you don't have to make your search or archives extremely obvious. Fact is (sadly for us bloggers), most people don't use either one. You're better off making your subscription options more prominent, just like you mentioned.
Great job putting this together!
Thanks Martyn! Agreed on making subscription options more prominent. The badge on the upper right-side of my header has converted very well (for newsletter subscribers and this 31 Day Challenge. Just goes to show that everything above the fold, with the right Call To Action, converts well.
As for archives and categories, I went ahead and disabled those for now. What I did recently enable (again) is the Popular Posts plugin on the sidebar. That's driven some light traffic before. We'll see how long I keep it. Ultimately, I'm of the opinion that less is more. I'm happy with the way things our laid out for now.
How about your site uses any form of clip art created circa 1998. 🙂
lol! You know what I don't like? Companies that use stock photos for their About pages and/or splash tons of stock-photography on their home-page to hi-light their services. Something about it just seems wrong…
The music point is so key, that used to be the “thing” 10 years ago. If you want to have music on a site, it should be something the visitor can select. Also, I know for a lot of Bloggers starting out, they are anxious to monetize their site so they add a bunch of sponsored links/ads by Google. If not placed appropriately, they can make the site look cluttered (IMHO).