Cookie Cutter Websites?

Here are three easy steps you can use to see if your business website is a cookie-cutter site.

1)  Look for websites that were created with website-builders – like Web.com or Website Tonite.  Yes, these sites can get a small business a website on the Internet fast.  But these sites rarely target a specific demographics, nor do they effectively convert website viewers into customers because of their cookie-cutter feel.

2)  Cookie-cutter sites are rarely optimized for the major search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing.  They just do not know enough about your business to create the underlying code that the search engines … well … search for.

Let’s dig a little deeper:  You can easily check a website’s keyword list by right-clicking on any page on a website. Then left-click on “View Source” (Internet Explorer) or “View Page Source,” (Firefox and Chrome).  A new page will open listing the source code for that page.  Somewhere near the top of that page you should find an entry for “keywords.”  View this list and consider whether there are some creative entries for that business, or whether they are ‘machine generated.’  Then ‘View Page Source’ on another page on the same website, and make sure that page’s keywords matches the content on that particular page (not just the same keyword list shown on each and every page!).

3)  The best consumer products proudly show the name of their manufacturer; Louis Vuitton, Apple, Mercedes Benz, etc.  Websites that do not have the web developer’s name – linking back to the developer’s website, are probably sites where the creator would prefer that viewers not know who the developer was.  

If you want your website to be found online and convert shoppers into customers, be sure to get a website that is search engine ready. This simply means have a professional set-up your website so your potential customers can find you with the keywords they use to find your type of goods or services. For example if a online shopper was looking for a Honda motorcycle mechanic in Ventura and a Honda motorcycle mechanic’s website was not programmed with the words “Honda motorcycle mechanic Ventura”, his website would not likely be found.

If you are shopping for a website just be aware of the fact that quicker and cheaper is not always better, especially if you are serious about Internet Marketing.