Carrying on from last week here are the next group of website issues we found…
8. Products not available
We found instances where instead of “Page Under Construction” we found “Product Not Available”. Again, if you don’t have the product, don’t build a page promoting it as available. Visitors will leave and then won’t come back.
9. Outdated Content
Content on sites are expected to be fresh and up to date. Some of the sites we visited had content relating to out of date products and services and also news sections that hadn’t been updated since 2003.
Old and stale content is not good for your prospective customer nor is it good for the Search Engines. They will penalise your site for having no updated content on your site.
10. No regulatory information / Old info (GISC Logos)
Make sure your website includes all the necessary disclaimers and regulatory information. Where you are appointing Representatives, make sure their sites are compliant. We found several instances of GISC Logos and no mention of the FSA or who appointed them as Representatives.
If you are no longer regulated nor do not wish to conduct business via the internet then you would be best advised to removed the site completely.
11. No interactive, fresh content
As point 9 said, having no new fresh content does not reflect well on your business. Allow the user to interact with your website. Provide articles, news content, chat facilities online. All these things will improve the first contact with your potential customer and will help with your Search Engine marketing efforts.
12. No corporate blogs
Blogging or Web Logs have been the big thing in the online world for the last two years, yet we still found very few insurers that have embraced this technology. It provides your business with a face or online persona that a visitor can relate to in some way. It is also a great way to add new content to your site, and is a great tool to promote your business within Search Engines.
About Jason Hulott
