What makes a Rotten Website?

Rotten websites are sites that have no title and no keywords. They have little information on them except possibly a message telling you to buy something and how it is going to revolutionize your life.

Rotten websites are often spam, coming to you from god-knows-where they found your email address. These can even be described as disgusting websites because on top of everything else, they waste your valuable time.

Rotten websites are also sites that are not optimized for search engines. A well optimized website, especially if you are appealing to local customers, can bring you far more attention than a display ad on page 37 of the local newspaper. Google figures that something like 75% of searches are for local products in which the purchase will occur off-line. In other words. At your store, in your back yard, in your home office.

Rotten websites do not take into consideration that in this time of recession, everyone is trying to spend their fewer marketing dollars wisely because:

• Print advertising is expensive
• Unaddressed mail is often recycled unread
• TV and Radio advertising is filtered out and unheard

A Rotten Website does not understand that many businesses have found that the most cost effective way to advertise is to optimize and update their website with new content, new information, more product offers or improved service.

How to avoid having a Rotten Website

Once you have decided on your campaign, work with Jackson on the Moon to redesign and optimize your content to reflect your new direction.

Good website optimization may not be as expensive as you have been told. At the end of the day it will likely pay for itself in increased traffic and business from your site.

Website content optimization is a fine balance between science and art which can mostly be managed by common sense.

After fixing your Rotten Website

Listen for customer feedback. Talk to your customers. What did they like about your site? What did they find problematic? Make sure there is a feedback form for those whom you do not meet personally. Give your customers what they want, and you will be rewarded with their business.

Photo by Dawn Allwyn