Publishing a website must be a top priority for any small business owner. A website creates a presence in the search engines. The search engines are where people turn to when they wish to find a local — or far off — business. With the right look, a website can do a lot to brand a business and impress visitors.

Unfortunately, small business owners sometimes make the mistake of publishing a poorly-designed website. The rush to get something online leads to sacrificing quality. That’s a mistake. You don’t want a website filled with a host of design flaws that undermine any benefits originally sought. Six major mistakes, in particular, should be avoided.

1. Avoid Verbose Text

A website can’t be too sparse on text since visitors do expect a decent amount of content to read. The website, however, shouldn’t be the length of Gone with the Wind. Newbie website publishers err and incorporate every bit of minutia they can think of. They pack a lot of useless content into the website. Visitors don’t have time to read through a really long and boring website. Keep content descriptive and informational, but be concise and to the point.

2. Failure to Integrate SEO Aspects

Elements of search engine optimization must be weaved into the website. A solid site map allowing the crawler to index all subpages helps. So does the integration of the right amount of impactful keywords into the text. Avoiding any and all illegal SEO tactics definitely is recommended. Really, do what you can to garner a good ranking in the search engines.

3. Rehash Old Content

Original content pleases the search engines. New content often proves compelling to visitors. Rehashed content lifted from another site, however, definitely won’t impress the search engines. Visitors won’t even see the content when the search engines bury the site.

4. Poor Organizational and Navigational Traits

When visitors land on a website, they don’t give the homepage too much time to make a good impression. If they can’t find links to other pages or find contact information quickly, they depart.

Poor organization combined with difficulty navigating throughout the site makes the simple task of making sense of a website too difficult. Site builders on any quality web hosting platform provide templates intended to maximize organization and navigation. Using a decent site building program could eliminate a lot of troubles with the creation of the site.

5. Load Up on Annoying Features

Pop-up pictures or audio files that play without warning might capture a visitor’s attention. These features may also annoy someone immensely. If an audio file plays when the person opens up a website at work, he/she may just close the browser immediately. Maybe that person won’t ever visit the website ever again.

6. Not Take Mobile Devices into Consideration

People use smartphones and tablets to browse the internet. A website that makes a smooth transition to mobile device browsing pleases people using such devices. Websites that look awkward when pulled up on a mobile device probably won’t retain visitors. They’ll probably bolt the site at first glance.