I look at a lot of websites every week. There are a number of reasons I go to someone’s website -I might be getting ready to meet someone in person, have a conversation by phone or I am researching a company for my new AssessmentRatings.com website.

Regardless of the reason, there are a number of things I notice that tell me something about the person or business and how they treat their brand. Your web presence is a direct reflection of how you communicate to your customers. Here are my top ten pet peeves:

  1. Who are they interested in? Your landing page says a lot about your business focus. Is your home page all about you or your client/customer? It takes less than 10 seconds for someone to decide to stay longer or leave. You decide which is more important.
  2. I have to hunt for your contact information and a way to get in touch with you. There is no phone number or email address, only a contact form which does not get answered – weeks later.
  3. Your email account is a gmail account. If you own the domain, establish your email through your domain. Why miss a personal branding opportunity? You can continue to use gmail by using google’s free apps and have your domain name prominent.
  4. Technology is your business and your website stinks. The story about the cobbler who forgets to make shoes for his kids because he is too busy with his customers is no excuse. Your site reflects the work you can do. If you don’t care enough about your business, what makes you think I believe you will care about mine?
  5. You do not have a website. Believe it or not, there are some people who think this is a selling point. You just lost my sale. I lose confidence in someone who is afraid of making a clear open statement about what they do.
  6. There is no search option. How can I find what I want without having to go through all your pages? If that is your intent, I probably will go somewhere else before I spend the next 15 minutes trying to find it.
  7. Who owns the business? There is no mention of an owner, CEO or president – only the word “we” which tells me you are actually running it solo and trying to make it seem like you have a kingdom.
  8. You have a blog that is defunct. You might have a post or two or you abandoned writing for it months ago. Get rid of it or archive the posts into articles if they provide valuable information.
  9. There are social media icons plastered on your site; however, you do not use them effectively. Your profiles may be outdated or they are not in use.
  10. Your website has not been updated for years. The links are broken. The site looks tired. It makes me think you might be tired too.

What are your chances of picking up the phone to contact someone? I will be you have a few pet peeves – what are they? This could get interesting.