7 Replicated Website Mistakes

Many direct sales companies are becoming more web-friendly by providing their consultant base replicated websites.  A replicated website is basically a website template that gets copied at the home office for consultants to use.  Most of the time, that website template has information that can be changed with unique information for consultant (URL, name, welcome text, layout, etc.)  Customization makes the replicated website unique to that rep.

The keyword here is unique.  Consultants should strive to set themselves apart from the thousands of other consultant websites.  The professionalism of the customization could also determine if you get any web orders.  Avoid these seven common mistakes to get the most benefit from your replicated website.

1.    Loud Music – This should be a given yet I’ve clicked on many websites that automatically start playing. You may like country or hip hop, but will all of your site visitors? Or will they instantly click off?  You also may be infringing on copyright and royalty issues by playing music of an artist without permission.

2.    Duplicating text that’s already available on the site.  Your replicated site likely already has a link about business opportunity or product information.  No need to regurgitate the same info on that valuable piece of real estate (the one page that you can customize).

3.   Too much personal information. This can be a balancing act.  Your personal testimony about why you joined the company or how the products have helped you can be compelling.  But information about you being the PTA secretary or a soccer mom isn’t going to enhance the buying experience.

4.   Lack of information – “Welcome to my site, please look around” will only invite people to instantly click off.  Catch their attention early and give them a reason to stay.

5.    Web counters.  They look cheesy and don’t mean diddly.  You can set the counter to start at any number – so over inflated site visits or conversely, teeny tiny numbers that show few have visited won’t help.  Instead use Google Analytics or StatCounter or any of the others that are coded into your site and only you have access to data.  Use the data to help you determine if your marketing campaigns are working and from where traffic is generated. (If you didn’t understand that last part, then a web counter isn’t something you need at this stage in your career).

6.    Amateur web design.  Many of the replicated sites now allow you to add html to pretty-up your site.  If you don’t know what you’re doing, hire someone or don’t do it.  I’ve seen far too many who attempt to merely “cut and paste the code that corporate gave us” only to skew their entire alignment or template…and they just leave it like that.  Don’t do that.

7.    Too much information.  Remembers it’s an introduction page.  You just want to encourage visitors to click on links and come inside – preferably to request more info, to sign up or to purchase.  Listing paragraph after paragraph and paragraph isn’t benefiting anyone and your visitors won’t stick around long enough to read all that anyway.

Now that you know what not to do, stick around for another post on what to do.  If you’ve fallen victim to any of these mistakes, fear not, just go change your site … posthaste!