The Top 7 Most Common Website Mistakes

August 16th, 2010 | 45 comments

top website mistakes I recently took on 20 websites to critique as part of a little experiement I’m doing. It didn’t take long to realize that most of the issues I found on these sites are pretty common. In other words, before even going to the next site I could almost bet that it would have many of the same issues the last site had. That tells me many people are making many of the same mistakes, which means it’s time for a blog post.

So here they are! The following are mistakes that I found to be very common throughout this little test, but also throughout the web in general. If you’re making any of these mistakes, STOP!

#7 Poor or no keyword research – Many sites I visit will be targeting one main keyword on the homepage, but when I look at internal pages they are targeting either EXTREMELY competitive phrases, which they will probably never rank for, or they don’t seem to be targeting any particular keyword. If you’re not doing some kind of keyword research, you’re just “taking a stab in the dark.”

#6 A lack of a good internal linking structure – This applies mainly to larger sites (approx. 30 or more pages.) If you have a site with alot of pages, it is very important that each and every page links out to other pages on the site. A list of random pages, popular pages and recent pages that appear on every page of your site is an excellent way to improve the internal linking structure of your site, which in turn helps the SE spiders crawl your site quicker and also spreads authority throughout your site. If at all possible every page on your site should be within 2-3 clicks from the homepage.

#5 Too many banners – Adding a few targeted, well-placed banners to a site is not a bad thing and will generate a little more profit. But contrary to what many people seem to believe the more banners you have does not mean the more money you will make! It can very quickly equal LESS money because a site full of banners is irritating and unneccesary.

#4 Lack of a clear purpose – Way too many sites that I visit require way too much thought on my part (the viewer) before understanding what the purpose of the site is. When the site is yours and you start thinking about a million different ways to do this and that, it’s easy to get off track and present an incredibly confusing site to new visitors. If there is any doubt at all as to what the purpose of your site is to new visitors, you should simply add a 2 sentence or so site description in your header.

#3 Little to no focus on building a list. As many times as I hear (and say) “The money is in the list” it is surprising to me how many people still do not actively work to build their list(s.) In nine niches out of 10, if you’re not building a list you’re wrong. If you’re not collecting opt-ins on your site, you should be! It’s that simple! However, it’s not as simple as sticking an opt-in form in the sidebar with “Join our Mailing List” above it. You need to have something of value to offer and use that in your call to action to draw readers into your funnel.

#2 Using the title tag improperly. The title tag of a page is the absolute most important on-page SEO factor. If the phrase that you want to rank for is not contained within the title it is going to be very difficult to get that page to rank for that phrase! NEVER use your domain name (mysite.com) in the title of your site and don’t saturate your keyword(s) with loads of filler words. That title should be the exact phrase you want to rank for with as few additional words as possible (although adding a few words to make it user friendly is ok… just don’t add TOO many.)

#1 Not Building Enough Backlinks. This is by far the biggest issue I see. People wonder why they aren’t getting the rankings they want, while they’re spending 90% of their time worrying about little things and ignoring the MOST IMPORTANT SEO ASPECT! If you’re not submitting articles to article directories, Submitting your URL to web directories and spending time working on other link building techniques on a weekly basis, you’re not doing enough. If you want to consistantly improve your rankings, you NEED to be consistanly generating backlinks!

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45 comments

Peter Claridge (7 comments.)
17th August, 2010 at 7:05 am

I know I’ve been guilty of #7 in the past (and present I guess!). But I think it depends on what kind of website you are working on. If I’m writing a blog post then I will write what I think is interesting and not worry about keyword targeting, if I’m creating an AdSense or affiliate style site then keyword targeting for each page is essential.

One method I’ve found with my company website is to keep the main site focused on selling and then add a blog to the site and write blog posts that are laser targeted for different keywords. That way the site remains uncluttered.
Rika Susan's Juicing For Weight Loss (23 comments.)
17th August, 2010 at 10:14 am

Good points about website mistakes, Josh. I still need to build more links – the one way to get more juice from the search engines. I am glad my list building is going well. That is one I missed when I first started out.
Linda (20 comments.)
17th August, 2010 at 10:16 am

Some good food for thought there Josh. I hate to admit that I am guilty of a couple of the items you mention above. Time to tackle those and improve my site.
Angie Berg (45 comments.)
17th August, 2010 at 10:30 am

These 7 mistakes are right on. I’m grateful that I learned to build sites the right way the first time around as it’s saved me a ton of effort and futility. I have several sites in different stages, but I have to agree with every single point you brought out. This serves as a timely reminder of things I need to do to get some of the sites into more profit.
June@Home Business Infopreneur Resources (1 comments.)
17th August, 2010 at 11:06 am

Excellent tips. I know I am guilty of not capturing leads with a sign in form, but many of my micro niche sites are more adsense sites than anything else and wouldn’t know what to load into the autoresponder because of that. This post makes for an excellent check list for every new site that goes up.
Alan Fuller (1 comments.)
17th August, 2010 at 11:22 am

Of course you are right, Josh. I certainly failed on some of these points and I am trying hard to get to work on them.
The trouble is, there is soooo much to do to create a profitable website it seems.
Article writing, which is so important, is also so time consumung. Link building always seems a mystery to me. I never have the number of back links that I think I should have!
John Burnside (4 comments.)
17th August, 2010 at 11:43 am

I have to agree that all of these are big mistakes. Its nice to have a checklist to see if you have done anything wrong. unless you do this you aren’t going to rank really highly in the search engines
Peggy Baron's Kid Friendly Recipes (1 comments.)
17th August, 2010 at 12:30 pm

I’ve been working on the SEO aspects after the fact, which is not easy with a big site. I’m pleased to see I’m on the right track now, although I’ve still got to put a lot into #1.
Dave Tishendorf
17th August, 2010 at 12:35 pm

Josh, I’m a little confused about “NEVER use your domain name in the title of your site …” What if your domain name IS the “exact phrase you want to rank for”?
Suzanne
17th August, 2010 at 12:49 pm

Hi ~ now I’m confused.. Could you explain a little more about not using the domain name in the title? I have several sites that the domain name is the main keyword, so the site is named that keyword also…
Ed Kangai (7 comments.)
17th August, 2010 at 12:57 pm

This post is bookmarked and is a MUST DO for all my sites. You give value in this Josh. Many many thanks to you. Kind regards, Ed
Jim Hageman
17th August, 2010 at 1:14 pm

Josh,
Thank you for sharing!
Jim Hageman
Nick A (2 comments.)
17th August, 2010 at 1:30 pm

how about a break down informing us how to target other keywords from internal pages within the site? how do you know exactly when they are too competitive? and what are the differences when targeting internal pages compared to the main domain URL?
great post btw!
Warren (10 comments.)
17th August, 2010 at 1:43 pm

Josh, I to would like a little clarification about “never use the domain name in the title.” Is that what you really mean? Primary Keyword should be in your title and your domain name shouldn’t it?
I’m guilty on a number of points so it won’t be a shock to hear I’m wrong here also.
Warren (10 comments.)
17th August, 2010 at 1:45 pm

Sorry, but one more thing. You said we shouldn’t use banner ads, but you have a page full of them here.
Could you explain the difference, or what you mean by banner ads?
Thanks.
Josh Spaulding
17th August, 2010 at 1:46 pm

Nick A – Take a look at this post on keyword research.

@ Dave, Suzanne and Warren – Domain name = mydogsite.com If you’re targeting “mydogsite.com” in your title, that’s a bad thing. You should be targeting an actual phrase, not a domain name.
Josh Spaulding
17th August, 2010 at 1:47 pm

@ Warren, I said “Adding a few targeted, well-placed banners to a site is not a bad thing”
Warren (10 comments.)
17th August, 2010 at 1:56 pm

I just want to publicly complement you on your QUICK response to our questions and comments.
Not seen too much these days.
Thank you very much.
Nick A (2 comments.)
17th August, 2010 at 2:16 pm

@ Warren, I totally agree, it appears Josh has foregone his lunch hour today in order to reply to us!
Cheers Josh!
Kidgas (2 comments.)
17th August, 2010 at 2:24 pm

I, too, had a question about the domain name and title. Glad I wasn’t the only one who was confused. Thanks for clearing that up.

I think my biggest problem right now is working on the backlinks. That is something that I really didn’t understand until recently. I really didn’t understand the importance of it so I am working to go back and regroup.
Dave Tishendorf
17th August, 2010 at 3:28 pm

Thanks for clearing that up, Josh.
steve (14 comments.)
17th August, 2010 at 4:58 pm

hey Josh,
gee… your post would seem to imply that good web design isn’t so easy…
And that is true. The law of averages says that most website will be just that… average!
But if people focus on your seven points and don’t make these mistakes, they stand a chance of being above average.
Anyway, great list… though I’m embarrassed to admit that I have been guilty of a few of these mistakes!
Steve
Stan Dubin (2 comments.)
17th August, 2010 at 5:36 pm

Josh, when you say

“don’t saturate your keyword(s) with loads of filler words”

do you mean for a particular page? Or do you mean also for the meta tags for the overall site?
Josh Spaulding
17th August, 2010 at 5:41 pm

No problem, glad to help

@ Stan – I mean for the title tag of any page, whether it’s the homepage or an internal page.
Jo Chris (1 comments.)
17th August, 2010 at 6:23 pm

Josh,

I’m currently working with some business owners to help promote their site. Unfortunately, the on-page SEO wasn’t done from the start and the Title page and meta description are missing. Having said that, I have a couple of questions.

1. Now that the site has moved up in the rankings…Pg 2 on Google, is it too late to make title tag changes? I read just yesterday a post that said if your site already ranks well, you could actually be penalized by Google for changing the title tag.

2. Not being a website expert, does changing the title tag change the appearance of the website or is it only visible in the search engines?

Oops 3rd question, I’m really interested in learning about SEO techniques that I can use to really improve my rankings…do you have or know of a product you would recommend for quality instruction?

Thanks so much for your help and I do thank you for all the great information you make available.

Jo
Stan Dubin (2 comments.)
17th August, 2010 at 6:57 pm

Thanks, Josh. Do you consider the meta tag for keywords should be filled with just about every keyword or phrase combination?
Josh Spaulding
17th August, 2010 at 7:03 pm

@ Jo – You definitely won’t be penalized. The site may drop in rankings for the initial phrase it was ranking for if the title tag is changed to a different phrase. The title tag is shown by most browsers to the top left of the browser window and also it’s the title of the search result listing in most search engines. For SEO try http://www.theeasyseoreport.com/

@ Stan – the META keyword tag is ignored by most legitimate search engines, but it doesn’t hurt to use it and stick 5 or 10 relevant keywords in there.
Ami (1 comments.)
17th August, 2010 at 8:35 pm

I struggle with #1 a lot. I’ve finally joined a couple of memberships to help build links and have a number of links built, but they are not getting picked up. How one site, I literally have a list of almost two hundred links, and only 4 have been picked up.
Karungwang (3 comments.)
18th August, 2010 at 6:17 am

I would speculate that most websites you look at are wordpress blog.
And I was told that for SEO, basic html can easily outrank blog since, inherently, it did a better job to get the ranking.
I’ve seen some folks prove that, and I began to believe it.
The problem is, I prefer the simplicity of adding content with blog than html site!
And I am glad, backlink is placed at the top of the list, in fact, I know a few site that outrank me with less content but more backlink.
And the notion that you need to create original content to win search engines love could be ‘bull’.
I hate it but that’s the truth…
Martin Security (14 comments.)
18th August, 2010 at 6:41 am

Very good list. Guilty of some of them and I dare say a few others.

It’s good to be reminded of these things from time to time.
Kate
18th August, 2010 at 1:28 pm

Josh, I, like Ami, have done a good amount of back linking with articles to the 10+ high PR sites as you recommend plus use your Deep Linker Pro and writing articles for other high PR blogs, yet Google doesn’t seem to acknowledge these in their counts. Any reason?
Your comments and suggestions to improve my site are very helpful and
they will all be implemented in short order. Thanks for caring
Josh Spaulding
18th August, 2010 at 1:30 pm

@ Kate – Google very rarely shows all of the backlinks they see. I have no idea why… maybe it’s something they do not want webmasters to concentrate on (just a guess.) But if they are there and they appear on a page that is indexed by google, they are being counted.
Gary (11 comments.)
18th August, 2010 at 8:37 pm

Great Timing on your Post I am building a new Blog right now. I will keep this in mind. I have your Deep Linker Pro and where would be the best place to keep links on your blog when you do exchanges. Do they need to be on the Home Page/ Post Page?
nette
19th August, 2010 at 2:00 am

#2 : title should not be the domain name.

I think this only pertains if you have a blog where you have various posts with different titles.

But in niche marketing, other “gurus” say this is a must.

Very confusing.
Josh Spaulding
19th August, 2010 at 2:14 am

@ nette – As I explained in a comment above “Domain name = mydogsite.com If you’re targeting “mydogsite.com” in your title, that’s a bad thing. You should be targeting an actual phrase, not a domain name.”
Sally (8 comments.)
20th August, 2010 at 11:04 pm

Hey Josh

Thanks for sharing your findings, I found them very insightful and helpful.

I need to ramp up my back linking efforts, that’s something my blog certainly lacks, so will be sure to put than on my every growing to do list!

Sally
Snapdollars (1 comments.)
22nd August, 2010 at 4:27 am

Hi Josh,

Thanks for your post, It helps me alot in building my new website.

arlen
Jeff
23rd August, 2010 at 5:39 pm

Great article. Now if you can just learn how to consistently spell the word “consistantly”.
Wihli (1 comments.)
25th August, 2010 at 7:11 pm

Thanks again Josh for some straightforward advice.

Easy to read and run with the information

Wihli D
John
20th October, 2010 at 9:12 pm

Thanks Josh,

I appear to be doing almost everything right.

All except the backlinks that is.

I have to spend more time building backlinks.

John.
Sid
21st October, 2010 at 12:54 am

When you build an optin list. What is the best program to use? Aweber, GetResponse or Constant contact.
Sid.
liz (1 comments.)
21st October, 2010 at 12:24 pm

Hey Josh,

Thanks for the thought-provoking list.

I do wonder what you are basing your ‘NEVER’ use domain.com in title advice on. Is it that you don’t want to dilute the keywords that ARE important to the title so they give the biggest impact? If there is something other than the ‘dilution effect’, do share!
Josh Spaulding
21st October, 2010 at 1:01 pm

@ Liz – Yes, it dilutes the important keywords and there just isn’t any good reason in the world to include the url in the title of the page. People know the URL. They can just look in the address bar.
Extreme Fatigue
26th October, 2010 at 1:59 am

Hey Josh
This was a very helpful blog post. I know that I have made everyone of those mistakes. I’m glad you took the time to list them and write about them.
Joy (1 comments.)
26th October, 2010 at 11:36 am

Hi

Interesting post, thanks.

Pls could you elaborate on “Using the title tag improperly” with respect to WordPress blogs.

Is the title tag what is in the subject, or do I need to do something else to get a title tag, please?