Big Mistake # 1: Creating a Flash Website - Did you know that in a recent study, leading internet marketers found that having a website created with Flash really slowed the response of potential customers and customers by up to three hundred and ninety .. . seventy per cent?
Here's why: Your prospects and customers are likely to access your website using all kinds of computers, connection speeds, and internet settings ...
What may seem great to one visitor, may not even appear to another! You could very easily have disbursed hundreds or even thousands of dollars to have a website created using Flash technology, only to find out that some of your visitors will never see it! (not to mention that loading times can cause your visitor to close your site, never return.)
Huge Mistake # 2: The "Internet Catalog" Approach - You see it everywhere. Good, honest business people and women go online to sell their products or services and have a website created for them that contains a link to just about everything they offer on a single page. Their thinking follows the lines of "... well, I do not want to leave anyone out. If they come to my site, I want to make sure they are looking for what they are looking for ..." - This way of thinking does not could be further from the truth.
Here's why: There's an old rule that goes back to the beginning of direct internet marketing, taught by the richest, most legendary and respected internet marketers of all time ...
"When you give your prospects lots of choices, they get confused and do not know what to do next. Confused people never buy anything."
Huge Mistake # 3: Optimizing Your Sales Website for Search Engines - You'll see this taught in almost every "internet marketing" course, manual or eBook out there ... "You should optimize every page of your site for the search engines! "- In fact, this false teaching is accepted as" truth of the gospel "so often that most web designers will offer to do it for you, at extra cost or not ...
What they DO NOT understand is that certain words and phrases should be rewritten (to make it "rich keyword") or completely removed, only to be considered by powerful search engines - and that could KILL their sales, literally during the night.
Here's why: When you or a hired web designer optimizes your SALES page (that is, any web page designed to sell your products and services) to get a higher listing on the search engines, you'll have to sacrifice the power of your sales copy (ie, written sales material) only to get the highest listings. Of course, this can bring you more traffic - but what good is all the traffic in the world if the visitors come to your site and are not required to read why they should order your product?
For years it has been taught that you should always try to find a "balance" of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) mixed with promotional copy designed to sell your products and services ...
WRONG AGAIN! The truth is that you should never optimize your sales page for the search engines. Instead, you should create small "entrance pages" for each keyword related to your product or service (highly optimized for search engines) and have them link to your primary sales site! (we can show you exactly how to do this quickly and easily and get * massive * traffic through Search Engines - without ever touching your sales site!)
Big Mistake # 4: Having a "graphics-based" site - Of course, graphics can certainly help us visualize a particular situation or circumstance, product or service ... But you knew that having a graphics-based website might actually DISTRACT? your visitor away from your sales message?
After all, your sales message (or "web copy") is the # 1 most important factor in a money making website. If your visitors are paying more attention to your "professional graphics" than to your sales message ... you just lost another sale.
Here's why: You have approximately seven seconds from the time your visitor arrives at your site, until the time he decides whether to buy your product, get more information or LEAVE. If you have a high-graphics website, your website will likely continue to carry its seven-second limit.
This is a "customer killer" itself - however, the real reason lies in the fact that the bigger, brighter and more beautiful your graphic, the more they will distract the visitor from your sales message. And if the visitor gets distracted, even for a second, this can mean the difference between getting a sale and losing a customer.
Big Mistake # 5: Designing a Website with ZERO Marketing Experience - Most web designers have no idea how to make money on the internet with nothing but their design services. It's not their fault - they simply have little or no marketing and sales experience. After all, they are just site designers ...
However, having your website designed by someone with ZERO internet marketing experience is like buying a street car without an engine ... it will not go anywhere, and it will waste your time and money!

The author is associate editor at Bravens Inc..

To build a website, visit http://www.bravensinc.com/web-design-solutions/