These days, there's no shortage of "how to" guides and articles out there that purport to explain what one must do in order to become a successful Web site owner.If you want to build a successful site, however, it's equally important that you also learn what NOT to do on
Web. Most experienced Webmasters are aware of a number of major no-nos to avoid. Examples include having a welcome page that takes forever to load. Or designing your site to accommodate only one type of browser.
However, there's a number of lesser-known, but still common, mistakes that many Webmasters consistently make. These include:
1. Not paying close attention to your visitors' feedback. Although many Webmasters don't realize it, feedback from your visitors is one of
most important sources of information you have, if you're serious about building your traffic. If a visitor has taken
time to E-mail you, you should carefully consider anything that he or she has to say, whether it's positive or negative. True, if you've worked hard on your site, it can be annoying to have a visitor write in and criticize aspects of your site. But rather than feeling slighted, you should make
most of such feedback. I've found over
years that many of
most valuable and useful features and changes on my sites were inspired by visitors' comments and critiques.
2. A second common blunder that a lot of site owners make is trying to build revenue before they've built a sizable, loyal audience. This is a bit like putting a cart before a horse. If you're trying to build your traffic, you severely damage your prospects by focusing too much on
revenue side of your operation at
outset. If your site isn't established yet, and you don't have a loyal, growing audience, then it's important to minimize your focus on making money. For example, you shouldn't be plastering banner ads all over your site---or pestering your visitors to sign up for an affiliate program. In short, forget
revenue: at least at
outset. Instead, focus exclusively on promoting, developing and fine-tuning your site. The fact is, once you have built an audience,
revenue will inevitably follow.