Does your website REALLY represent your small business and help you succeed by engaging your existing clientele and attracting new customers?
Here are 14 problems that I see all too frequently on small business websites. If yours suffers from any or all of them, it may be time to fire your webmaster.
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You don't own your own domain name
Did your webmaster do you a ‘favor' and register a domain name for you?
SOME favor!
If you have a falling out with your webmaster, your website could disappear overnight when you stop paying them for their services and they stop paying the yearly registration costs on your behalf.
If your webmaster registered and pays for your domain name, insist that it be transferred immediately.
Most domain registrars (GoDaddy) and hosting services have information posted to help you with this process.
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Your website is ugly
We've all seen them — business sites with floral wallpaper backgrounds and ragged-looking logos that look like they were designed by kids in kindergarten.
Paying a ‘webmaster' for such ugliness is just plain wrong.
With thousands of website template designs available for almost any type of business, there is absolutely no excuse for anyone to have an ugly website.
Pre-made template designs exists for all types of business. For example, StudioPress has themes for real estate agents, photographers, food bloggers, charitable organizations and more.
More importantly, when you buy a website theme from a professional designer or agency, you know that the template is secure, i.e. access is made difficult for hackers. Good design companies keep their templates current and inform customers when updates are available through the WordPress interface. One click of a button and your theme will be automatically updated. Note: It is also important that your webmaster update your WordPress platform when required to make sure that it also remains secure.
Professional themes are designed to be responsive to those visitors who prefer to access your site on their mobile devices.
All professional website themes can be further customized to suit your individual requirements, using either services recommended by the template designers or at Freelancer.
Furthermore, website or WordPress themes are moderately priced – usually less than $100 – so you don't need to pay through the nose for a ‘propietary' website design when all you'll need is a little customization.
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Your business site doesn't show up in the Google search results
I have good friends in town who build campers (campervans) that they export to New Zealand, simply because their campers can be built less expensively in Canada, shipped to New Zealand and Kiwis still save money when they buy my friends' product.
Does their site show up in the Google search results for:
- campers New Zealand
- campervans new zealand
- campervans new zealand for sale
- buy campers New Zealand
- new zealand campervans for sale
Nope… not a blessed one.
They have a nice looking site, but their website hasn't been optimized in the least to appear in the Google search results.
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Your website has pages marked as ‘Under Construction' or ‘Coming Soon'
An Under Construction sign suggests to potential clients that:- you are dis-organized, and;
- that you don't care if you waste a visitor's time by making them click useless links
I'm sure that's NOT the first impression you want to give potential clients.
If your webmaster doesn't know how to create and build new pages in the background without having to utilize the infamous ‘under-construction' notice, fire them immediately!
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You have no access to your site's control or administration panels
If your webmaster disallows you direct access to your website's hosting control panel (i.e. cPanel) or your site's administration panel (i.e. WordPress admin), you should request the usernames and passwords as soon as possible.
It's your website – YOU must be able to access the backend to make small changes to your site when required.
If you have a real web development company working for you, this won't be an issue – BUT, you'll also be paying them top dollar to make sure you are always happy with your website.
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You don't know how to make simple changes to your website
If you or your staff can't make simple changes to your website, then you are always at the mercy of your webmaster's schedule.
See next item…
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Your webmaster is slow to respond to change requests
You've just increased the price of an item on your restaurant's menu and need that posted on your website ASAP, but you haven't been able to get in touch with your webmaster for the past week.
Consider how frustrating that is for customers who check your website for specials and are then disappointed find out that the price has increased.
Who loses?
YOU do! Because if you do the right thing – as I know you will – you will honor the price listed on your website.
Who pays for that mistake?
YOU will… because your webmaster won't accept responsibility for changes that aren't made simply because they're on vacation.
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Your webmaster insists on using a website platform other than WordPress
With 70+ million websites, WordPress is the most popular open-source website platform and is used by companies such as the New York Times, CNN.com, Forbes, Reuters, McLean's, eBay, Sony, BestBuy and more.
For small business owners who need to be able to make changes to their own websites, WordPress has the most user-friendly interface, and as an open-source product, it is constantly being improved by developers the world over.
Too, there are NO limitations nowadays on incorporating business plugins into WordPress that help you sell your goods online.
The fact of the matter is that staff you hire in future are much more likely to be familiar with the WordPress platform than any other and their knowledge will save you money and time.
If YOUR webmaster insists on using Dupral, Joomla or some other content management system for your website, you should request a conversion to WordPress ASAP.
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Your business site doesn't show up on Google+ and Google Maps
If you own a hair salon in a resort town like the one in which I live — Penticton, British Columbia, Canada — then you know that a good percentage of your business in summer months comes from vacationers who search the web for a highly recommended stylist located close to their hotel or other accommodations.
Your business NEEDS to show up on Google+ and Google Maps. If your webmaster hasn't spent the half an hour needed to do this for your business, then you really need to fire them now.
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Your site doesn't have a sign-up form for news and special offers
A real webmaster knows how to install a simple autoresponder signup form from companies like Aweber and Constant Contact on any website.
They will also understand and explain the importance and necessity of having an autoresponder service for your business website — in order to generate leads and keep your potential and existing clients returning for more news and special offers.
It is not good enough for your site to display a link to ‘newsletter'.
The email capture form MUST be located on your homepage and every other page of your website.
If it is not, then fire your webmaster now!
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Your business has no presence on social media sites
In addition to showing up in Google's search results and business listings, your business must also have a presence on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and the other top social media sites.
That's easier than you may think.
Setting up a Twitter account takes only minutes. Facebook profile and page
Most of the new articles you post to your blog can be automatically posted to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+.
Your webmaster should know how to set those auto-postings up – if not, fire them now!
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The current year isn't reflected in your copyright notice
Your website looks really out-dated when your copyright notice shows the year in which your website was constructed, but doesn't include the current year, i.e. Copyright 2010, instead of Copyright 2010 – 2014 (or current year).
Adding the snippet of code that always shows the current year is super-simple.
If your webmaster hasn't installed that code or doesn't know how to install that code — imagine how much else they don't know about basic website development!
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Your website links to your webmaster's business site
This bugs me to no end.
YOU paid your webmaster to develop your website and THEY get free advertising?
That is just so wrong! They should pay YOU to advertise their site.
Seriously, if someone finds your site because it fulfills all the requirements of a great business site and then wants to know who designed it — YOU, the website owner, should earn a referral fee based on your recommendation.
Webmasters who place links to their own business sites on the bottom of their clients' websites are simply self-serving… and need to be fired.
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You hang on to a bad website due to loyalty to a friend or family member
Your business website is a representation of your BUSINESS and the point of your business should be to support existing clients and attract new clients to generate income… NOT to make your webmaster feel good about themselves.
If you've been conned into believing that a friend or family member who builds websites for friends and family members is actually a ‘webmaster' then you get what you deserve when they don't or can't turn your website into a real BUSINESS website.
After all — your website is not personal – it's business.
If your small business website suffers from some of the aforementioned issues, what you need is a REAL webmaster or preferably a ‘web developer' — someone who knows what it takes to make your website visible and functional for existing and potential clients.
If you can't afford a webmaster or web developer who knows how to design a website for business, then take responsibility for your online marketing and learn how to make simple changes on your own after your web ‘designer' has set you up with a pretty WordPress site.
There's no shortage of WordPress tutorials, some of which will teach you how to broaden your reach and earn revenue from your website beyond the local level (including my Affiliate Blogger Pro). 🙂
Comments, questions or suggestions? Please leave a comment below!
Cheers,
Hi Rosalind,
It’s true that today majority of the webmasters are not much professional and do not follow business ethics. I can tell you in my case that, I do maintain domain and hosting for my clients, and at the same time i have given them admin access of domain control panel and hosting account too. Although they hardly access, until need to create an email ID.
All my clients’ websites are built in WordPress and they have admin access too.
Kindly don’t be so harsh against webmasters, there are good guys too 🙂
Best Regards
Kumar
I;m very much thankful for the useful tips and guideline, i admit that I am really new comers on the dating industry and this is my first website, its just lunch 2 month ago and I see the very good outcome, I wish I could learn more to make my site progressive and success.
Great article. I have been a web designer for many years and it frustrates me to no end when I talk to a potential client who has the same complaints you listed about their current designer, especially the “can’t contact them” or the issue over owning the URL. I have always had the client purchase their URL and every page is optimized for search engines. These other design companies use bad methods and got their money, so now they are leery of me. This has made it hard to get new clients as they tend to think we all operate the same. I am thinking of closing the business, which is why I am interested in the affiliate marketing.
The only thing I would argue is the link to the designer’s website. When a photo is used, there is always a credit to the photographer and designing a good looking website is like an art. I put a “Website designed and maintained by” credit on sites because visitors to the site might like the site but don’t put the effort into contacting the site owner to ask who did it. I have always given a referral credit to any business that comes from this link, and the clients like getting the bonus with no effort on their part. Any designer that puts this credit on a site but doesn’t offer such a bonus then yes, don’t allow the link. Consider also that I put links to all my clients on my design website, so there is a mutual exchange of advertising. Many of my client’s sites get visited by my links, but I do not get any referral bonus when a purchase is made.
Hi Laura,
Thanks kindly for sharing your thoughts, and sorry to hear that you’ve been tarred with the wrong brush in your industry.
I agree with linking back to the designer as you suggest, however, that is most often not the case.
Re your photograph example — when I buy photographs from iStock, I don’t credit the photographer.
Best of success with either revamping your business or with the affiliate marketing… maybe a bit of both is in order?
Cheers,
Ros
Gina,
I feel your pain, adding it to my own I sought help and found it at, “HONORABLE RUBMASTER. We handle you public and private sites and make you cpanel feel valy, valy good. Make you blog have happy ending.:)
Too funny, Julian… excellent reply!
Two points I can’t get behind/agree with Rosalind…
There are other great platforms besides WordPress. Depending on what a website is being used for, there may be a better solutions. Drupal for example needs to be built by an expert so they make it easy for an owner to edit, but you can build any type of content you want using CCK and Views module in combination. It is also much more secure by nature..For simple little sites like this one, WordPress is good enough, but make sure you firewall and harden it.
A footer credit to a prominent web design company is a good legitimate back link and can benefit a new website. Nothing wrong with this practice if they ask politely for your permission. If you want them pay for it. That can be worked out too if your site has the juice to be helpful to the designers, they’ll be happy to do something extra.
Best regards,
BJ
Hi BJ,
I just knew I’d take some heat on those points. 🙂
The article is written for small business owners who aren’t likely to need a mega-scale ecommerce site, otherwise I’d agree with you about choosing a heftier platform.
As for ‘designed by ___’ links, most of them seem to be added without the owner’s permission or more often, knowledge. If they do as you suggest, then there is nothing wrong with a reciprocal link.
Cheers,
Ros
#15. You, as a business owner, have no idea how drop-dead-easy it is for even a technically challenged person to create and manage their business’ every web property using [link removed], and by so doing competently address every rightful concern you have with your webmaster, such as reasons 1-14 establish.
You’re right about the benefits of running your own small business website, TC. That’s why I enjoy teaching the process at AffiliateBloggerPRO.com.
However, not every small business owner has the time or willingness to build and operate their own website… but they really do need to be informed enough to discern the good from the bad website designers.
Cheers,
Ros
What I could never understand is just how awful all the websites I go on look. I’m talking about BIG companies who can afford the best web developers. They drive me crazy with their offensive ads all over the place flashing popups at me. Why is it so hard to find a website that is pleasant to look at????
Funny story: I was asked by my village to create a new website because the current webmaster had disappeared. Turned out he had registered the domain himself, so we had to get a new one. Later, when the old name became available, I tried to persuade them to buy it, but they refused. Eventually, somebody did buy it, and now it’s a Japanese massage site!
Hi Gina,
That IS a funny story. Did you see Julian’s reply to your comment? ALSO very funny.
Cheers,
Ros
Ross,
Two others you may want to add here would be making sure your WordPress site is secure. Plenty of webmasters who can build in wordpress but very few who can secure your website against malware, brute force attacks and other issues. So the following two points can be added here.
1) Make sure your website is secure wordpress or not. Especially wordpress and they know how to protect your site, keep the software and plugin updated.
2) Make sure you host with a reliable host, if the hosting is provided by your webmaster do they support your site when its down, is your website proactively monitored for downtime, virus issues, pci compliance etc.
Great article and I would say this is a must read for any small business owner.
Hi Abe,
You’re absolutely right. I’ll add a tidbit to the article mentioning those points and link to other posts I’ve written on those subjects.
Thanks!
Ros
Hello Rosalind,
I have an e-commerce online e-books store with woo-commerce Free theme. My question is, do I need to have opt-in Sign-up Form on the products pages?
Hello Evelyn,
Every ecommerce site should engage in email marketing. Here is an article that might help.
Cheers,
Ros
Hello Rosalind, thanks for this edutaining piece. No doubt the majority of small businesses and even big ones pass through a learning curve. Same with individuals. We gradute from novice to masters. Unfortunately majority of those starting out will not get to read your treatise, their only source of information being their “webmaster”. And some so called webmasters know next to nothing, while some are plain rogues cum fraudsters. I learned this lesson the hard way. So newbies be warned. I will send this piece to all my friends and enemies. Well done Rosalind. Paul
Thanks Paul. Your comment makes me think that a ‘how to hire a webmaster’ article is required. 🙂 Cheers, Ros
I’m liking that idea (“How to Hire a Webmaster” article) a lot-lot-lot, Rosalind!
What questions to ask, and what sort of answers to expect, as well as what to look for in their samples or portfolio – priceless!
Thanks!
Karen J
Just starting my blog and wanted you to know that I found your book to be very helpful. So a big ‘thank you’.
Hi Ray,
You are most welcome! Best of success with your family blog. I imagine doing the research will be great fun.
Cheers,
Ros
Dear Rosalind,
I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated your great article on 14 reasons to fire your webmaster.
Thanks very much for all the great resources that you have provided over the years.
Sincerely,
Jess
Hey Jess,
I’m glad you enjoyed the article and you’re most welcome… my pleasure! 🙂
Cheers,
Ros