If you are the owner of an ugly website, you already know its ugly, but for some strange reason you are in denial. So you dress it up add cool features like butterflies following your customers cursors or the ever so irritating menu that follows us as we scroll. Have you asked yourself..."How can butterflies following someone's cursor help me gain more business?"

Honey let me tell you, since no one else hasn't...stop fooling yourself. If you know you're dealing with a beast, no amount of "pearls" in the world is going to help and its about time you did something about it.

Don't feel bad, I had an ugly website too. But someone pulled me to the side and said...

Sharron darling. I love you BUT how are you designing such beautiful sites for others and yours is so...plain?

(You know you need to brace yourself when you hear "I love you BUT" lol)

I had to admit. It was plain...ok ugly (lol), iPhone users couldn't even see it and my sales were just like my site...plain. I had to revamp. For goodness sakes, I design websites. There was just no excuse.

Having a beautiful website for your business is not for the rich and famous, its for everyone. Its easy and affordable to have a beautiful website, and if yours still looks like crap then you are unintentionally letting your customers know that image isn't a focus of your business.

When you have an online presence, it is very important to make an awesome first impression. You want customers to shop on your website and you want them to return. Darn it! You want to be bookmarked! But if your site is drab and dull, more than likely people are going to forget about you and go to the person that they FEEL cares more about their business.

So What Makes a Website "Ugly"?

• Too much color - Would you paint your home with 5 million different colors? So why would you do it to your website? A splash of color on your pages here and there is great but your theme should NOT remind us of a box of lucky charms honey.
• Too much activity - The butterflies and the trucks and the rabbits all running after my cursor is just going to frustrate your customer, especially when they are trying to do other things on your site. In the case of web sites...less is more.
• Too much "cool" junk - I know you think a game on your website may be fun to you but who are you trying to impress? Yourself or your customers? Get rid of all the "nifty" tools like games (unless you are a gamer), flashing lights & text, plugins that are irrelevant to your business and other clutter that detracts from your business. Stop dressing up ugly sites people.
• Too much text - If you're a blogger its ok. If you're not, why are you writing an autobiography on your website? Its sad to admit but most of us only read about 10% of a page. Don't bore your customers with too much text. Break up the monotony. The things that you really want them to know, highlight it or place bullets next to them. Although your life story maybe the stuff for movies, at the end of the day, the majority don't care. We want to get in and out.
• Too many popups - Personally? The minute I visit your page if I see a pop-up...I'm out. They are annoying. Why would you place pop-ups on your page when almost every browser has "Pop Up Stoppers"?
• Too many graphics - I love graphics just like the next person. But placing a scrapbook collage of photos and images all over your site is a bad idea. Graphics take a long time to load and its frustrating sitting and waiting for a page to load when the competitors pages load and are gone in 60 seconds. No dear, slow and steady does not win the race.
• Too many advertisements - If your customers wanted to go to a yard sale they would of drove to one. Why do you have hundreds of ads all over your web page? Bloggers can get away with this since they are offering a free service and need to generate income in other ways. But if you are not a blogger or you provide paid services on your site, dont be greedy. Reduce the ads. If you place ads on your site they should only be on the left OR right column and top OR bottom of the page. They should not be all over your site making it hard for customers to discern your business from third-party advertisements. Ad Etiquette: No more than one ad on the top and bottom, left OR right side of the page. Maximum number of ads 3.
• or just too plain - If you aren't going to express yourself you might as well just put up a banner that says "Hello World" and call it a day. Be expressive but don't go overboard. Pay for some graphics or design your own. Most free graphics are dull and of poor quality. Jazz it up. Make yourself memorable.

Well Lets Conduct a Poll.

I googled "real estate agent" and I found two listings that came up. I omitted the names to protect the innocent.

Which did you pick? I know which one I'd pick. I mean let's be honest, which of those sites looks like they are selling homes successfully?

I make the choice all the time. If I have two sites to choose between and I have no history on either company, I am going to ALWAYS go with the company with the better design. In my opinion, this shows me that the business owner made more of an effort to impress me. You could be the best thing that ever hit the internet but how would I know that? How would anyone know that? You have to have an advantage. You have to be remembered online. Don't assume because you work hard offline that your business is going to succeed online. Its a whole other world out here.

Some may argue that "ugly" websites can make sales. Sure they can, from loyal customers or from people that know the company already. The chances of a new person, not knowing anything about the owner or the company choosing the business with the "ugly" website is slim to none. And we do want to attract new customers right? Don't protect an ugly website (lol).

So if you are the owner of an ugly website and you are ready to make that next step...give me a call. I guarentee you can have a website that you love at a price you can afford.

Think about it....