Avoid These Mistakes When Building Your Website
We talk about “Best Practices” in the marketing industry quite often, but I want to spend a bit of time dissecting its soap-opera evil twin: “Worst Practices.” If I’m able to prevent one business owner from making any of these grave (dramatic) mistakes when embarking on a website project, then I consider this blog a success.
Here are the top website mistakes business owners should avoid at all costs.
Don’t Let Someone Else Own Your Domain
If we’re to start at the beginning, then it typically involves registering the legal business name and checking available domains. Maybe you reach out to an old friend who knows how to code about building a website.
They said they’ll handle it, which includes registering a domain and spinning up a website wherever they already have an account. Then, you wait a few weeks and… crickets. Eventually, they resurface, and you have an okay final product that goes live.
Sometimes, the above scenario plays out fine, and that individual continues to be your de facto IT solution five years later. However, more often than not, you need to make a change to that first iteration after drumming up some interest and find that your contact got locked out of that account after losing access to the email used, or started a family and doesn’t have time for these asks, or or or.
While I don’t advise that you become a website designer or developer, I do advise that you purchase your own domain using a free, long-standing non-work email address at GoDaddy.com or NameCheap.com. Assuming the business is more than a wisp of an idea, I recommend you start with it on auto-renew.
Don’t Let Someone Else Own Your Website
At Armada Digital, we are an WPEngine Agency Partner. What does this mean? Well, all of our clients’ websites are hosted on our dedicated servers with WPEngine. Does this mean we own their websites? No. Our clients have “Admin” access to the backend of their website and full access to the hosting environment. Meaning, they can export their site files and pivot to another hosting and website support company at any time without our approval or permission.
Does this happen? No, but that’s not the point. If everyone at Armada Digital went dark, our clients would already have the access they need to keep things moving.
Before engaging with any freelancer or agency on your website build, don’t forget to ask questions about who “owns” what and ensure you have direct access throughout the process.
Don’t Let a Developer Determine Your Branding
We are many things at Armada Digital—a marketing agency, a website company, an SEO firm, but we are not a branding agency. We respect the process and acknowledge the level of deep research and communication required to ensure that the business visuals connect with its intended audience. From color theory, font hierarchies, to refining a company’s identifying mark until it’s just right—these are foundational details that need to be well thought out. Of course, the level of time, attention, and financial resources dedicated should align with the scope of the business.
While there is such a thing as too much tinkering in the design phase, what we don’t recommend is having your website determine your branding. When you embark on a website project without defined branding (logo, color palette, font hierarchy, image system), there is likely to be a lot of wheel spinning in the design process. Most non-creatives have trouble verbalizing what they’re visualizing and operate with a “I’ll know it when I see it” viewpoint. The role of a brand designer is to help you parse out these details and translate them into a visual identity that can be applied across audience touchpoints — from your website, to business cards, or social media presence.
Don’t Skip Out on Understanding the Why
While our clients are involved in the website building, content writing, and search engine optimization process, we aren’t training in anticipation of them taking over. That being said, understanding the why behind our decisions is a must. This especially applies to key junction points like finalizing a site map or your keyword shortlist.
The most successful business owner + marketing agency partnerships are between two parties that are both genuinely curious and committed to a common goal. The more you share about your business and what you’re aiming to achieve = the more informed our strategy recommendations will be.
Don’t Be Scared to Partner with the Right Team
I talked a lot about ownership upfront, and for good reason. We’ve seen too many clients burned by previous agencies or left hanging by nonresponsive freelancers. The solution isn’t to become a full-time DIYer when it comes to your marketing. While the know-how might be handy, it’s likely not where your time and energy should be spent. Rather, the reminder here is to seek resources that allow you to outsource access, while partnering in ideas and execution.
If you’re in search of a marketing partner and all of the above resonated (and hopefully didn’t scare you), feel free to reach out to schedule an exploratory meeting with our team.
