1. Web site is made

People thinking that after the web site has been made they can now walk away and never touch the web site ever again. Unfortunately, it isn't that easy. This may be true, if you have a very small company with nothing new ever happening that you need to inform your clients of, otherwise the real work actually begins after the web site is done.

SOLUTION: Make sure to maintain your web site and constantly update it with relevant information. Your clients will appreciate it and also find you to be a better company to do business with.

2. Confusing web site

Companies thinking that their web site is easy to navigate. Have you tried your own web site? When designing your site, make sure it has a pattern that leads your visitor. Get several people (friends or relatives) to visit your site and watch them as they navigate. Notice the places where they stop (as if they're finished) and also links that they click on. Organizing your site to lead visitors is very important whether you're leading them to buy something or just to click and go to another place in your site. Customers are silently begging to be led.

SOLUTION: Take a look at the flow of your site. Design it in a fashion that always continues like what is described above...  It is NOT always going to be easy.

3. After web site is done I will have tons of visitors!

People all over the world will come surfing to my web site as soon as I am done building it. Maybe this would happen if the internet was only populated by you and a few friends but unfortunately the internet is so huge that it is easier to find a needle in a hey stack then it is to find a new web site on the internet.

SOLUTION: Make sure to submit your web site to search engines, search directories, do SEO work on your web site. Fill your web site with interesting and relevant information to your business. Often update your web site. Join a PPC program. Often refer your web site to your clients. Teach your sales and marketing people to often use the web site when interacting with clients.

4. Shopping Cart

After creating your shopping cart you'll instantly turn millionaire.... Again, it never is as easy as that. A shopping cart system is takes a lot to manage AND clients need to foremost be able to FIND your shopping cart web site.

SOLUTION: Follow the advice above in point 3

5. Databases

Companies thinking that just because they have a database they can easily re-use the same database with other forms of programming e.g. PHP, ASP JSP etc. Maybe you can maybe you can't. Don't assume anything! There are different kinds of databases and MANY different ways to access them. It is NOT always going to be easy.

SOLUTION: Make sure you find out exactly what kind of database you have and how to access it. Generally, (and very simplified), databases work well with a corresponding programming language. E.g. MySql works well with PHP and MsSql works well with .NET and ASP. Now, you can mix and match databases with different programming languages  BUT the result can sometimes be very bad.

6. Great and expensive Dynamic system or Shopping Cart system

Companies thinking that just because they have paid a lot for a system or a web site they can now relax and the system will do everything for them.Your web site is just a 'Business Tool'. And like any tool it is just as good or as effective as the person managing / using this web tool. If you don't actively use it or hire the right people to manage it for you, it still won't be helpful to you.

SOLUTION: Make sure your staff understand how to use and maintain your web site or 'system interface'. Remember that ONE person might not be enough to manage your web site especially if it is a shopping cart! Invest in the right people!

7. SEARCH

People thinking that it is easy to find things on their web site. Have you tried to find anything on your own web site? When designing your site, make sure you include a search function that operates following what people are used to seeing on the web. Unfortunately fixing search, requires considerable work and an investment in better software.

SOLUTION: Search is such a prominent part of the Web user experience that users have developed a firm mental model for how it's supposed to work. Users expect search to have three components:

• A box where they can type words
• A button labeled "search" that they click to run the search
• A list of top results that's linear, prioritized, and appears on a new page -- the search engine results page (SERP)

In user testing, people tell us that they want search on websites and intranets to work like X, where X is their favorite major search engine. Luckily, all three of the major engines (Google, Yahoo, and MSN) work the same: exactly as stated in the list above.

8. Too much information

People thinking that cramming in as much information as possible on their web pages is a good thing. NO, it is NOT! Web pages should be simple and to the point !!

SOLUTION: Writing for the web means making content

• short,
• scannable, and
• to the point (rather than full of fluffy marketese).

Web content should also

• answer users' questions and
• use common language rather than made-up terms (this also improves search engine visibility (SEO), since users search using their own words, not yours).

9. FLASH

Companies thinking that Flash is so pretty and that think users will feel the same way when they are forced to endure slow download speeds due to excessive use of flash.  Flash should not be used to jazz up a page. If your content is boring, rewrite text to make it more compelling and hire a professional photographer to shoot better photos. Don't make your pages move. It doesn't increase users' attention, it drives them away; most people equate animated content with useless content. Using Flash for navigation is almost as bad. People prefer predictable navigation and static menus. to be easy.

SOLUTION: Flash is a programming environment and should be used to offer users additional power and features that are unavailable from a static page. Or it should be used as Make-up to 'touch-up' the web site a little - NOT a lot!.

10. No contact information

Companies thinking that just because they have a web site there is now no need to have normal contact information on the web site e.g. phone number or fax number. Many web sites like using what is known as a 'web form' as a way of contact. What is important to understand is that the form should be a complement not a substitute to traditional ways of contact.

SOLUTION: Customers using your 'web forms' don't enjoy waiting 2-3 days before they get an answer. So if you insist on using a form make sure to have staff that is on the alert and answers customers quickly. If customers can find your phone number easily and then call you, they can get the answer even faster. Trust us, clients really like that. Most high volume web sites in the world have dedicated staff to attend to this. Often using NOCs (Network Operation Centers)

Visit AskMorris Inc. at http://www.askmorris.org for additional tips
Or join one of Francis J. Morris speeches about Web Tips & Tricks