| |
| |
|
Why Dot-Coms Fail - a Webmasters Perspective
Everyday we hear that another company goes out of business. When and why does a dot-com become a dot-bomb? After checking few dozen defunct companies, I think the main reasons for dot-coms failure are:
I'll focus my comments on the last reason: How Errors in the Web Site Can Affect the Company's Health It's clear that you can make money on the Web if you have customers. You have customers if you have viewers- "traffic" in the geek's language. And you get traffic if your site is easy to find -- near the top -- in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). That's not so easy to achieve. First of all your site has to be indexed by the search tools: Search Engines and Web Directories. Although some Search Engines will eventually find your site by themselves, most of the time this only happens if somebody links to your site. In the case of a NEW site, having existing links is almost impossible. Rather than wait for links to be made, start a submission campaign. A big no-no is submitting a Web site using submission software. Using software of this type may be quick and easy, but some Web Directories and Search Engines do NOT accept automated submissions. It's true that manual submission is a time consuming process -- you'll have to read AND follow each Search Engines' submission guidelines, to effectively perform the submission - but it's a necessary step. Most of the defunct sites I've checked had only a modest presence and visibility in the Search Engines. Let's say that you submitted your site correctly, you waited a reasonable amount of time - usually few weeks - for the Search Engines to process your submission, but your site does not appear near the top in the Search Engine Results Pages. You're wondering why, right? Well, one or more of the following reasons might apply: 1) Your submission was not accepted by the Search Engines. If you used spamming techniques, such as:
"Search Engine Spamming Sucks!" [ http://www.web-design-in-new-york.com/articles.html ] Some Search Engines also have difficulty in indexing pages that use frames or Flash. 2) Your submission was accepted, but your site is not listed in the Top 10-30. Because very few people check pages after the first 30 results, you want to be in the Top 10-30. There are many reasons why a site is not listed high. The most common reasons are:
A Web site with HTML errors can look fine in Explorer, strange in Netscape or Opera and totally unreadable in a text browser. Although Explorer has the largest market share, an important percentage of net surfers use other browsers. Don't forget the more than 50 million people in the USA with disabilities. Many of the latter use text/voice browsers. Other Types of Errors in Web Sites Proper HTML coding is very important but the structure and the layout of the pages are equally important. I saw sites without ANY way to contact the company: no email address, no "contact page". I saw sites so crowded that it was almost impossible to find my way around. I saw sites with ugly color schemes. I saw a site so "heavy" that it took nearly three minutes to download the Home Page. According to statistics, users have very limited patience when it comes to loading a page. If after eight seconds they cannot see the page, they leave. And we all know what that means or the success of a Web site. I not only saw all those errors in sites that are now gone but I also found them in sites that are still alive, including, incredibly, some Fortune 500 companies' Web sites. So Do We Dot-Com or Not? The answer is a resounding YES! But with one condition, learn from your predecessors. How can a dot-com become profitable? I don't pretend to know ALL the answers. If I did, I would be millionaire by now. Advice for Forming and Managing Your Company:
Advice Regarding the Web Site that Supports Your Company:
For more about spam please read my article: "Search Engine Spamming Sucks!" [ http://www.web-design-in-new-york.com/articles.html ]
Also, use the Title tag, the Keyword and Description meta tags in your HTML coding to list targeted keywords from the contents of your pages. This helps the Search Engines rank your site higher.
So, let's see: do we dot-com or not? You bet we do! There are tremendous opportunities on the Internet. Find your niche, follow the rules, work hard and you'll make it. It will not be easy but if you believe in your dream and set realistic expectations, you'll be successful. Good luck! About The Author Daniel Bazac is the Web Marketer for Web Design in New York, ( http://www.web-design-in-new-york.com ), a site design, Search Engine Optimization and promotion company. He's been online from 1995 and he's also a seasoned Internet Information Researcher. He can be reached at mailto:danielbazac@hotmail.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Web-Design - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Positive Design Attributes for a Successful Website Designing a website is hard job, and requires you to think out a plan of action, and put in a lot of work to make it successful. There are many different kinds of websites on the Internet, but if you look at all the top performers with high traffic, you will notice that they all have similar design characteristics which place them as the best in the world. Choose & Use the Best Colors, The Psychology of Color Are you using the best colors for your web site? Many web designers often overlook the issues of color in web design. When choosing colors for your web site there are three main areas that should be addressed. Top Ten Ways to Increase Web Sales - Part 1 You have only 10 seconds to impress your potential buyer. Your Web site visitors don't care about you. Top Ten Ways to Use Audio on Your Site Audio can provide an added dimension to your site. It creates a warm atmosphere where visitors feel like they know you. How to Choose Web Design Company? Before deciding on which web design company to choose, you should first determine the main aim and purpose for your upcoming website. Once the aim and purpose have been identified, then only move on to choose a reliable web design company to develop your website. Why You Should Hire a Professional Website Designer Your web site should always adhere to standards!A professional web site designer will provide you with a standard compliant web site that is cross-browser supported.What does this mean to you? Why should you care? Any site that isn't standard compliant can "break" in older browsers, or simply not display at all in, say, text-based browsers. Dos and Donts in Web Design - part 2 (content) Do know your audienceIt's important to know your audience.If you write for a site that sells toys you'll use other words, colors, images etc. Graphic Terms- The Basics Part I You're almost set. The content of your website, e-book, or software is complete. Ten Fatal Mistakes That Make Web Sites Stink Since you'll spend lots of time and money to create your web site, don't you want to make sure you're not making mistakes that at best irritate users, and at worst make you lose customers?After all, when you alienate users, you lose potential revenue. Who can afford that?Dr. Why Do Images Disappear from a Webpage? In learning webpage design, I encountered many problems that took lots of practice to resolve. Although, I was building web pages using Microsoft Frontpage on my home computer, I used to face lots of issues after uploading the webpage to my website. Selling Multiple Products? Avoid These Top Blunders When your web site sells more than a dozen items, you may face a fierce challenge of helping shoppers find what they are looking for. You'll need to classify products into categories, but these will serve as obstacles and even dealkillers if those categories do not match those in the headsof shoppers. Internet Tip of the Week: First Impressions First impressions are extremely important if you hope to do business on the Web. After you refine your ads, and if you make your pitch to a targeted group, you will start to get visitors to your web site. Make it Clear What Your Website is About Just about every list of the "Top 10 Web Design Mistakes" includes at least one reference to either1. Not clearly specifying the objectives of your website, or2. Web Usability: The Basics What is web usability & why is it important?Web usability is about making your website in such a way that your site users can find what they're looking for quickly and efficiently. A usable website can reap huge benefits on to your website and your business. How To Choose The Right Web Design Company 1. Size does not equate to competencePeople sometimes assume a company with more money, employees, office space etc will be more capable than one with less. How To Create A Stunning Drop Capital Effect On Your Web Pages Drop Capitals are frequently used in many newspapers, books and magazines in the offline world. You will frequently see the large capital letter sinking down into the first paragraph of articles, stories and chapters in the majority of publications you come across. Shameless Flashers - Using Flash Tools To Create Spectacular Websites Flash is a powerful technology that can help you create spectacular websites, tutorials and demos. Find out which inexpensive tools are available to you that have very low learning curve. 5 Ways To Improve Your Website Immediately If you are reading this, I assume you either have your own website or planning to get one. Either way, these 5 tips can help you create a better business website immediately. Can a Webpage Created Without HTML? The HTML editor is usually a webpage design software that has a GUI(graphic user interface) which makes it easier to design a webpage using the File Menus. This is good for the non-programmers and non-technical people. Save Thousands of Dollars by Creating Your Own Web Site With the advent of the Internet a whole new vista of business has opened up. Many erstwhile opportunities otherwise not available to us, many markets which were previously inaccessible are accessible to us now.
|
| home | site map |
| Webdesign-box © 2006 |
