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Most Common Website Mistakes

February 18, 2019    Reading Time: < 1 Minute

As you can guess, there are countless numbers of mistakes people make with their websites.

I want to focus on the most common we notice every day.

Hero Area

This is the first thing that people see when your website loads.

Since it’s the first, you want to get right.

The hero image needs to accomplish three things in the first few seconds:

1) What you do
2) Why that makes the customer’s life better
3) What they must do to take action

Sounds simple, but like anything simple, it can be difficult.

The temptation for a business is to list every feature or service they provide. The problem is, the visitor can’t understand what you do. It’s too much work for them to figure out. They are confused and they leave.

Imagine you have three seconds to tell a prospective customer in person what it is that you do, write that down.

Hero Headline

With your hero headline, it needs to be:

1) Short
2) Benefit-driven
3) Customer-focused

Formula

The formula for creating a hero headline:

1) State the problem you solve.

2) Promise a transformation. If you can change your customers life in a big or small way, use that in the headline. Make the website focused on the customer.

3) Say what you do, simply. I also recommend a simple sub-heading listing a couple benefits your customer will have working with you or with your product(s).

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Written by Shawn Hooghkirk on February 18, 2019

Last updated on May 04, 2020. Shawn is the President of Graticle, Inc.

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Shawn is a gem. He is talented, reliable and professional. He also has integrity that is rarely seen today. I could not recommend him more highly. And his website design work is beautiful.

Robert Ottinger

Employment Attorney

Ottinger Employment Lawyers

https://ottingerlaw.com

New York, NY & San Francisco, CA

I have worked with Shawn at Graticle for three years, which should speak volumes in and of itself. I am a high school teacher and serve as the Coordinator for the AVID program. Each August-September we create new t-shirts for distribution to all 140 of our students, along with supportive members of the faculty, staff, and administration.

My team of AVID teachers brainstorms ideas for both the front and back of the shirt, and I present the best one or two concepts to Shawn for his expert feedback. We quickly settle on the best design idea and colors, and then Shawn and I bounce more detailed suggestions off each other for a few days. His suggestions always result in significant improvements to my rough concept. He presents me with graphic “rough drafts” at each stage of our discussion until we have a design I’m really happy with.

Shawn then works his magic, and the final design is the work of a consummate professional. We get tons of compliments on our shirts, starting with our t-shirt printer, and usually end up having to do a second print run for additional faculty and staff who want one of the shirts. This year, a middle school in Southern California saw the design and asked if they could use it.

Another positive aspect of working with Graticle is that Shawn is easy to reach by phone or email, and he is very responsive. I hear back from him either the same day or the next day.

Working with Shawn and Graticle has been a pleasure, He produces good work quickly and at a fair price. I recommend him to you without reservation.

Bill Wolfe

Teacher & AVID Coordinator

Taft Union High School

www.taft.k12.ca.us

Taft, California