Perhaps you have attempted (maybe more than once) to have a website. Maybe you went all out and hired a web designer spending thousands of dollars or more having them build your site and shopping cart. You dreamed that many people on the Internet, searching on Google or Yahoo would find your site and purchase your products or use your services. But no one showed up and your website got no hits. You try certain keyword searches on Google or Yahoo and your website does not show up. You haven’t even gotten one single customer from your efforts and expense. You failed on the web which puts in the ranks of millions of others that have gone before and will go after you. Your website failed.

You are not alone. Out of the almost 56 million websites on the web, fewer than 500,000 of them have any real traffic to speak of. Let me say that another way. There are over 55 ½ million websites on the Internet that are complete failures because they have no real traffic or people coming to the site. So if you have been one of those 55 ½ million, don’t worry, it happens to all of us.

What is failure? Quite simply, a website with little or no traffic is a failure. Without traffic on your site, how can anyone find out about your products or services? How would they know where you are located and that you have the exact thing that they are looking for?

Anyone can build a website but building a website that works is another story. There are many things you can do wrong that will make your website basically useless. Today people surf the web. The Internet is no longer a luxury; it is used daily by millions and millions of people to find products and services. Many people are searching for your products and services right now and if you don't have a place on the web or search engine visibility, then they will not find you. Let’s examine the reasons that websites fail on the Internet and begin thinking about how we can avoid these normal pitfalls in creating our new site or revamping a current site. Below you will find the main reasons why websites fail.

Ineffective strategic planning
If you fail to plan then you basically plan to fail. You need to know who your target audience is and the best way to get their attention. You also need to know the main purpose of your website. As you plan your web site remember each web page should have an objective, but within the constraints of the Website's purpose. It is important to find an effective way to convert visitors to buyers or people who are interested in using your services. You need to think about these objectives in the planning stages of your website.

Many "web site developers" only know about web design
Many website designers do not know marketing, conversion, usability and compatibility issues. Your website might look great but if it does not have search engine visibility then it is almost pointless if you want to use your website to bring more sales to your business. One example of a website that would have poor search engine visibility is a website that has nothing but graphics and FLASH animation.

Search engines are text driven. To get top listings on certain keyword searches on search engines, it all depends on how much text content you have throughout your website and how well it correlates with the content you have in your <TITLE>, <DESCRIPTION>, and <KEYWORDS> meta-tags in the HTML. Search engines do not recognize text that is embedded within graphics. So if your website is all graphics and no ASCII text, then the only way to get business off the internet is a pay per click or ad campaign which can be very expensive. Don’t get me wrong, it is okay to have some graphics and animation in certain portions of your WebPages, but it is extremely important to have regular ASCII text that can be recognized by search engines.

Poor html development skills
Anyone can pick up a copy of “FrontPage” or any other web design software and create a website. Don’t get me wrong, it is good for someone to learn how to build and maintain their own site. But keep in mind, if you do go that route, I highly recommend that you at least learn HTML and CSS style sheets at an intermediate level.

If you have someone else design and develop your website, make sure that they know what they are doing. Some website developers only know how to develop a website using “Dreamweaver” or “FrontPage” and have no skills in HTML and CSS. When a website designer does not know why errors occur, or do not know that the sites they build are not browser and platform compatible, they can cause you to lose potential customers and sales. A well designed and programmed website works in all browsers and on all platforms. It looks good no matter what monitor size the visitor has. It works on a MAC and it works on a PC. It works in IE and it works in Opera, Firefox, and other browsers. It is coded and ready for the search engine bots. So make sure your web designer knows how to program so that you don’t waste your time and money due to the designer’s lack of knowledge.

Lack of content
The lack of content to one of the biggest reasons why websites fail. For search engine visibility, you need to have meaningful and helpful content to add information to the web. Your content needs to add value to the web with new ideas or differing opinions.

Content is writing about your particular subject in such a way that it helps your rankings with the major search engines. I am not talking about sales pitches. I am talking about writing real content on your site that answers a question for a searcher. Many times people on the web are looking for information, not you. When they put in a search phrase like “cars in Dallas, TX” they are looking for information, not a particular sales agent.

Search engines will analyze your site to see if it offers answers to particular searches that are made through their services. If it does, then for that set of keywords, you may be ranked and ultimately get more traffic. If it doesn’t, like the great majority of sites on the web, then you will never be found. For good rankings, you have to be constantly adding and updating information on your website so that the Search Engines will want to keep putting you at the top of their lists. When the Search Engines visit your site with their spider programs, they look for the last time the site was updated. The more it is updated, the better ranking you will enjoy.

Most website owners don't update or proofread their sites
I don’t understand why someone would spend thousands of dollars on a website and not take it upon themselves to proof read its content. I cannot tell you how many sites I have visited with obvious mistakes in language, verb usage or vocabulary. I have seen the English language distorted on supposedly professional websites. I have visited sites with a lot of broken links that instantaneously made me go to another site never to return. When people click away from a site with these problems, they won’t come back. Having errors and broken links is the quickest way for a web surfer to lose interest in your site. These problems can be easily fixed, but unfortunately people fail to check their sites on a regular basis.

Too many banner ads, colors, flashy text or external links
Websites that look like one huge ad or one big sales pitch will usually fail. Think about it, people deal with enough commercial ads on TV and the radio. People see hundreds of ads every day on billboards and all over the internet. If your website is not focused on what you do, then surfers will click away.

You will find many websites that will create banner ads for you to place on your site. I would not do it because they usually do not work. As a result, they will not make you any money and all you will be doing is helping that company's search ranking. Only provide external links on your site that help your business because an external link is a way for the surfer to get distracted by leaving your site and forgetting about your products and services.

Too much money is spent for a website setup
Many people spend too much money on a website when it is not necessary due to their lack of knowledge about the internet. They think when they spend a lot of money on a website; the traffic will automatically start pouring in and they will be getting a lot of sales. When they don’t get the sales form their website, they get discouraged and give up on the website all together. Your investment in your website should be like other business investments that you make. For example, if you are a clothes designer and you are considering bringing in a new line of clothes, you would not immediately make thousands of this new style of clothing. Instead would make a few, test the waters and as you made more and more money, you would increase your inventory.

The same applies to the website, especially if you are using it just an advertising medium. Start out with a simple, but with a professional design. Don’t spend a lot of money on it at first. $500-$1000 for your first year is very reasonable. Then, as the website brings you more customers and clients, you can increase your spending on it by adding a shopping cart, online store, or more fancy graphics as an example.

Not spending enough time researching keywords
Keywords are an important part of how a Search Engine finds your website. Choosing the right keywords doesn’t mean coming up with a list in your head. It means spending some time using web-based tools to help you find what people are actually searching for when using the Internet. Another thing to do is write down a list of possible phrases someone might type in a search engine to find your website or the desired search phrase you want your website to be listed on.

Not spend time optimizing their pages to be found by search engines
Many people want the quick and easy way to get top rankings and will pay for a "Search Engine Optimizer" (SEOs) hoping that it will get them to the top 10 on Google, Yahoo, and MSN. They do this before writing good content, analyzing their own keywords, and making their sites user friendly which is a mistake. The S.E.O. companies that offer these services thrive on the fact that most people are ignorant about how a web site gets into the top positions on the major Search Engines. Search Engine Optimizers cannot get you into the top ten for the words and searches that you want. If they could, then everyone would use them and everyone would be in the top ten. Remember that only 10 can be in the top ten for each keyword search and those are the ones who have built their pages with the content that puts them there and keeps them there. If an S.E.O. (Search Engine Optimizer) does get you to the top ten for a day or so you won’t stay there long if you don’t have the content to back it up.

The best computer engineers in the world work for Yahoo, Google and MSN and they will not be tricked into letting you into the top ten, the top thirty or the top 1,000 for that matter. They will let you in if your page offers relevant content that their searches are looking for. And once you make it into the top ten the honest way, it is really hard to drop out of it especially if you keep adding useful content to your website.

Websites that don't respond to visitors in a timely manner
It blows my mind that people do not respond to email inquiries that comes from visitors on their websites. I noticed that when I fill out an online contact form on a website or I send an email with my information and questions, I usually get no response. It is very unprofessional not to respond to emails or inquiries that someone filled out on your online contact form because you will lose potential business. If people are going to take the time to fill out your online contact form or send you an email, you have to email the visitors back quickly or they will find someone else to provide the same products or services. Not only do you need to respond quickly, you need to respond professionally and you need to let them know that you read and understand their email. You should include all of your contact information and you have and spell-check your reply messages.

Failure to register their sites on the local search engines
Did you know that the major Search Engines are pouring millions of dollars into developing their local searches? Soon the major Search Engines will overtake the Yellow Pages as the number one medium for searching a local business. Engineers are working around the clock now to create formulas that will point searchers in the right direction and towards local vendors that can meet their needs. Businesses that don’t show up on the local search will be at a disadvantage and will be passed by their competition pretty soon.


If your website disappoints you and you do not get any business from it, don’t be discouraged. It is never too late. You always have a chance to turn things around. Figuring out how to create a successful website that gets top positions in search engines is definitely not the easiest thing to do. Follow these guidelines listed above and think of useful content and articles to add to your website. Once you add useful content to your website, you will then start to see more traffic.