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Ever Wondered What Challenges Other People With Their Web Site ?

January 20th, 2009

Have you ever wondered what challenges are faced by other webmasters and owners in the design and promotion of their websites, well I certainly have and so I decided to try and find out.

I created a short survey which asked the following questions:

1. How long have you been running a website ?

2. What challenges do you face right now with the DESIGN of your website ?

3. What challenges do you face right now with the PROMOTION of your website ?

4. What challenges do you think you'll face with your web business over the next 12 months ?

5. What is your Number ONE single biggest problem in running your web business ?

6. What is your 2ND single biggest problem in running your web business ?

7. How experienced do you consider yourself with all the areas of WEB DESIGN ?

8. How experienced do you consider yourself with the PROMOTION of a web site ?

For most questions respondents were asked to choose their answers from a list and could select as many answers as they thought applied to them.

In answer to Q1. How long have they been running a website ?

27% answered less than 6 months.

18% said 6 to 12 months.

18% said 1 to 2 years.

37% had more than 2 years experience.

To answer Q2. What challenges do they face right now with the DESIGN of their website, respondents were given 36 possible answers to choose from.

The top 10 challenges respondents gave in DESIGN were, in order:

1. Optimizing Web PAGES for Search Engines

2. Optimizing Web SITE for Search Engines

3. Choosing/adding a Link Directory

4. Adding a content management system

5. Tracking pages visitors view on their site

6. Finding content for the web site 7. Creating Images for web pages

8. Choosing the right web hosting

9. Choosing/adding an Autoresponder 10. Adding and using RSS News Feeds

To answer Q3. What challenges do they face right now with the PROMOTION of their website, respondents were given 24 possible answers to choose from.

The top 10 challenges respondents gave in PROMOTION were, in order:

1. Getting more visitors from search engines

2. Writing content to attract search engines

3. Finding other sources to get more visitors

4. Gain/maintain more links to their web site

5. Get better Google Adwords results

6. How pages rank with search engines

7. Testing web pages for best changes to make

8. Creating better headlines for web pages

9. Getting better Adsense results

10. How/Which Search Engines to submit to

In regard to challenges over the next 12 months and the number one and two single biggest problems in running a web business, the common theme was getting enough traffic, cheaply and finding the time to do everything.

On how experienced respondents considered themselves with all areas of WEB DESIGN the majority felt competent but would like to learn more.

When asked how experienced they considered themselves with the PROMOTION of a web site the majority knew nothing or just how to do the basics.

Conclusion

It was clear from these early results that issues with search engine ranking and getting more traffic by what ever means were among the greatest challenges for website owners in 2005. Other specific problems were in creating content, managing and getting links and finding the time to do it all. The majority of respondents felt they knew little or just the basics about website promotion.

It remains to be seen whether these results change as more people complete the survey, since it's still ongoing. Not enough responses have been collected to make these results statistically sound, so if you would like to contribute to these finding then you can take the short survey at the link below.

I will publish an update to these findings on my site. As a thank you for completing the survey I have some good advice on the site to help with the 3rd highest issue with web design that of choosing an adding a link directory. I am also giving away some free automated link directory management software.

About the author: Tony Simpson, has 5 years in the trench experience of Website Design, Promotion and Optimization. He provides advice & product reviews at Web Page Add Ons to Make Automation of Your Website Work for You. Contribute to the Web Site Challenges 2005 Survey at :http://www.webpageaddons.com/quest/index.php?sid=1

Author: Tony Simpson

 

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Being a webmaster is a much more important job than most companies would dare admit. Webmasters are responsible for the company web presence on every level, from the website copy to the web and email server administration. Additionally, webmasters are often tasked even more duties that should be considered unrelated responsibilities for the position of webmaster. These extra duties often will include online as well as offline promotion and marketing, search optimization, advertising, application programming, graphic design and/or brand management. The role of the webmaster has grown over the years and webmasters need to grow with the company's expectations or the website will not succeed. For instance, it is easy to get banned from the search engines for not knowing the correct methods to use to optimize a website for a better results ranking from the search engines for any particular search phrase.

This is why Webmastery is here, not just to offer direction and assist webmasters, but to do so masterfully, as you expect of yourself, or as your company expects out of you.
 

Since I am an American and know only American English and SEO methods, I specialize in American Webmastery. Hence the domain name, Webmastery.US.
 

However, please note that often both sides of the coin are presented here. Some webmasters swear by Linux and we offer articles by such authors to give insight to their creativity. Others are die-hard Microsoft software fans and use Windows based servers. Despite the bias, each system has its own advantages, and such articles are reprinted here for their positive contribution to those platforms, not to enforce their bias. It is we that have to make the final analysis.
 

This difference is even more apparent when I am showcasing and promoting white hat SEO (search engine optimization) and a black hat SEO article is published here, which method if followed could get a website banned from the search engines. The reason I allow it a small platform is to showcase its apparent and obvious idiocy in contrast to white hat SEO techniques. And as I cannot edit these articles in order to correct them, I let their illogicality and stupidity stand on their own for a time without any edits. But in case their spaminess is not apparent, I often do not let such articles stand long.
 

 


 

 

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