New Life for Underperforming Websites

There are about 10 billion websites on the Internet today. Unfortunately, most have Google page ranks of zero and remain virtually hidden from potential site visitors. Some of these sites look fine from the outside. But on the inside, it's usually a different story.

Why most websites aren't fulfilling their potential

Beneath their flashy banners, borders, and photos, most websites are snoozing on the job. Five bad habits often are to blame:

  1. They leave out critical programming and content that search engines need to catalog, rank, and archive web pages.
  2. The heart and soul of these sites—the text and informational content—is weak, insubstantial, off target, or static. In either case, it fails to attract, or satisfy the needs of, potential customers or members.
  3. They rely on invalid programming, gobbledygook code, and unneeded file types, which confuse web browsers and search engines.
  4. They fail to meet current web standards—the Internet's critical rules of the road.
  5. They emphasize visual design and bells and whistles at the expense of user experience (UX).

Why content and programming issues are so common

These practices came to be because, during the dawning years of the Internet, many websites were created by graphic artists (who are trained in print design) and web dabblers, rather than by professional web developers. What's more, the sites were built before modern web standards and advanced web-marketing practices had developed. As the medium and technology have advanced, many crude practices of early website making have become obsolete. But if this scenario describes your website, don't worry. You can still take steps to make your investment pay off.

The road to revival

The good news is, no matter what state your site is in, its performance can be dramatically revitalized. And you don't have to throw it away like some web developers will tell you—or rely upon quick-fix search engine optimization (SEO) techniques. You just have to improve its wellness from within—with smart, clean, strategically savvy programming and intelligent web-marketing practice.


NEXT: Learn 10 Steps to Website Revival