Websites are now at the very epicenter of your business and it‘s a shame that we let our customers run like rats being chased by a giant cat. We use our websites to disseminate information, capture leads, build lists, spread information or maybe just sell. No matter what our intentions are, the last thing you want to do is to drive your customers away the moment they land on your website. Here are some  common ways you might be doing it:

Any fancy is a surefire disaster recipe: Too many websites don’t do what they are meant to do because of some brazen, nonsensical and really unnecessary flash applications and other things can slow down your website significantly. Websites are out there for just one purpose – be it to capture leads, making customers sign-up for free trails or samples, provide information or to sell items off the website. Anything else that doesn’t match up to the criteria above shouldn’t belong on your website.

A little too quick to capture leads is a little too stupid: No one likes to be pushed; not even on digital fronts like websites. Can you imagine how you’d feel if a sales person calls you everyday trying his/her desperate best to get a sale? When pop-ups flood your website home page the very second your customer reaches it, your customers are sure to flee. Set the pop-ups or other lead capture mechanisms to surface after a slight delay of at least a few seconds –10 to 15 – is a good average.

Not having a blog, general interactivity, etc: If we wanted to read something without anyone talking back to us or perhaps write something and have no one talk balk to us, we would be reading and writing books respectively. We wouldn’t want interactivity of any sort, whatsoever. However, if you are running a business, you can’t live in that hole in the wall. You have to reach out and have others reach out for you. Your website can’t afford not to have any sort of Interactivity. So, have a blog where your readers can talk to you and Interact with you, take polls, conduct events, etc.