VERY last chance for a Website In a Week: read more

Hi Reader,

Before we attend an in-person event, we do a little research to see who will be there. This is in case we see potential for partnerships or collaborations, and of course we're also on the lookout for shops that would be fun to work with or could use our help with their websites.

Although I'm used to seeing websites that don't work perfectly, I was taken aback recently by how many big problems (that are simple to fix) that I saw on exhibitors' and attendee's sites.

Here were the problems I saw over and over as I clicked links and got to know who would be attending:

A missing subdomain

For most websites, you can visit it at either DOMAIN.com or www.DOMAIN.com - both usually go to the same place. However, I saw many websites where either the www or non-www domain didn't work at all. It would go to an error page, a "coming soon" page, or the web host's website. I wasn't looking for this on purpose - quite a few people were linking to a version of their site that didn't exist.

Fix: Try your domain with and without the "www" prefix, and contact your domain registrar if you need help getting either to point to your site.

Social media link problems

Sometimes I would want to view someone's Instagram account, and it was very common for me to not be able to do so from their site (I'd have to use Instagram's search). When I clicked the icons from the shop's website, it would turn out they'd entered it incorrectly: just the handle, instead of the full URL. Or a link to their old Instagram account. Or they had never entered it in and it was going nowhere, or to their web host or theme developer's account.

Fix: Test each social media icon on your website to make sure it goes to your account.

No way to contact

This was the weirdest one! Some websites did not have any kind of contact information: not a contact page with a form, not an email address, not a phone number. It's hard for people to feel comfortable shopping if they can't figure out how to ask you a question or what to do if there's a problem with their order.

Fix: Add a straightforward and easy way for people to contact you through their site.

Pop ups that take over the page

I'm sadly used to finding pop ups that I can't close or use on my phone, but this time I was also unpleasantly surprised by pop ups that I couldn't close on desktop.

Fix: Test your pop up on desktop and mobile. Can you find a way to close it? Is there a very obvious X button or "close" wording that's in the top right corner, and not covered up or lost offscreen?

Broken links to missing pages

I also found many links that just didn't go anywhere. Sometimes I'd be trying to go to an About page, looking for a Contact page, or just clicking around to learn more about the company, and I'd find a whole page was missing and giving a 404 error.

Fix: Use a broken link checking tool regularly to be sure everything's still working as you make changes to content. And when you do move or delete a page, remember to check for links that had been going to it.

I also have a blog post on our site about some more common website mistakes that you may want to check your site against: 8 Common Website Mistakes Small Businesses Make

Q&A

Here's a reader question about website design, from Sameer, as answered by Barbara Kowalski, Web Designer on our team:

Q: Sameer asks, "How can I create a website that will instantly create trust?"

A: Establishing trust as soon as customers visit your online store is one of the most important goals of website. Multiple factors can help you establish credibility and get new customers to place a purchase. Here are some of our top tips:

make your site look professional and clean, including: a clear hierarchy in font sizes, no more than 2-3 fonts on the site, elements that are all aligned and spaced out evenly
use high quality photography — a Shopify study among North American shoppers listed this as part of the number 1 factor for trust in an online shop
show off social proof by listing happy customer testimonials on your homepage
include clear navigation links and make your “about” and “contact” page links easy to find
write an honest “about” page mentioning who is behind the brand (bonus points if you show a photo of yourself too!)
state your shipping and returns policies clearly, both on their own page and on your product pages
include your processing turnaround times, letting people know how quickly to expect their order to be shipped out
make it easy to contact you with at least an email address on top of your contact form

For more information about establishing trust and connection with potential customers, check out this blog post: How to Optimize Your Website Content To Resonate With Your Dream Customer.

Question: Answered

Our team includes experts in branding, design, development, email & SMS/text marketing, search engine optimization, copywriting, conversion optimization, ecommerce strategy, business growth and more. Email me back with your question! I'll consult one of our experts and share one response per week over email.

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