If you do a Google search on the word “Webarrassment,” the results [summarized] are roughly as follows:
“Webarrassment is a modern term describing the shame or embarrassment businesses feel about their own websites due to poor design, outdated tech, slow performance, or bad user experience, often leading to lost sales and wasted time… It’s a common issue where companies know their online presence isn’t cutting it but struggle to update it, creating a costly cycle of digital shame.”
A phrase that jumps out at me in the above definition is “digital shame.” Whew. As if life weren’t tough enough. Add that to our bag(gage)?
Of course, it behooves every website owner to stop by and take a walk through their website from time to time, and many find that they do not get around to doing even that much unless they block out time in their calendar to do it. If you haven’t had a look in a while you’ll find that the longer you go without looking, the harder it gets to work up the courage to look. Why is this? It’s because we all know that nothing remains static for long, including what’s up on the ’net, and especially when we’re not looking.
Among the more common and egregious site errors is The Dreaded 404: Page Not Found. Unless someone is freestyling and making up a URL on pure speculation to find a page that they think might be on your site, they should never see The Dreaded 404. But completely aside from that, link rot does happen when other people’s URLs change out from under you and no provision was made by them for a redirect. Clearly that’s not your fault! But you can minimize the appearance of these by doing a periodic site walk-through to have a look at your various links. And as you may well have guessed or already know, there are lots of web-based tools and online utilities you can use as dedicated link-checkers that can crawl your site and report what’s broken.
I won’t go into a lot of detail regarding correcting various errors, but the basic idea is this: “measure twice, cut once.” If a website is created from the start with good practices and attention given to its goals, structure, and content, it will fare better over the long run, have a longer “shelf life,” and be more resilient when changes are needed. Part of the beauty of a website is that it can be updated, enhanced, and revised at any time. Unlike print, where ink must hit paper, a site has agility. It’s mutable and can — if well-designed — turn on the proverbial dime.
Other kinds of issues are also worth considering. Not only technical errors, but also elements of content that need to change for the sake of the business, its evolution, and its offerings. As your business evolves, you need to have a look to see if the website is still aligned with your goals and brand. Keeping up with changes in the business model, positioning, and even policies are important.
Another piece of advice I give to my clients — if your site includes any features that allow for comments or feedback, forums, or discussion threads of any kind, you REALLY need to monitor those conversations as closely as you possibly can. Once you open that door, you must be willing to go into the room. So unless you are ready to devote significant time to the “care and feeding” of comments, reviews, and other kinds of threads, your best strategy is not to sign on for it.
It’s stunning how many people forget that the web is visible world-wide (what the heck did “www” stand for anyway?) Revealing too much on social media can be downright perilous. Decide if you really want to be “out there” before you go. We’re way past “the bad old days” when the bad guys would check the newspapers to find out when there was a wedding or a funeral and rob the people they knew would not be at home — now with social media, it’s that “on steroids.”
Being visible for a business is of course the “lifeblood.” Your website is your brochure, your sales rep, your ambassador, and your resume all at the same time. Who would want to see a typo there?
Make sure that YOU are showing up lookin’ good.
NOTE:
This article expands upon parts of an earlier article in Design Thoughts that you might want to read also while you’re here. See: “On Drift”
