Getting a website right takes work and commitment. If you want it to succeed, you need time to get it right and have the right impression to your potential customers.
During a conversation you can download extra tracks from the tone, choice of words used, the way it is said, pause, etc. They provide emotion and meaning beyond the words spoken. The same goes for text and other website content. There are additional signs of emotion and meaning, and what you choose to write and how you say it can say a lot about you, your organization and your priorities. These priorities are often obvious to any potential customer who visits your site and therefore can reveal a lot about you.
It can reveal:
* Your business priorities
* How your organization is structured and run
* Whether you focus on your customers
* How do you deal with things
* If you're ready to treat,
* Their positions
* If you pay attention to detail
* If you are credible
* And more ...
So what is your website really say about you? If you send a positive and useful 'message' to your potential customers or practical to put a great big sign that says something far less desirable?
How do you know? There are some important things to look for on your website or any other website. Remember also that there 
could be a combination of one or more of them together:
* Weak text / sales copy - text, lacks direction and order. If you decide to buy our products, fine. If you don’t buy our products, fine. Big sign reads: "We're not really serious about this new web thing"
* Text strongly focused on you / your products - message is clear. You are only interested in yourself and therefore your website too. Big sign reads: "We are really. Customer? Who?"
* No / wrong site focus - website either not focused on customer needs or focus on the wrong things. The potential customer doesn't receive a positive and clear message about who you are, how you do business, etc. Big sign would read: "We either don’t know or don’t care what our customers want." See also 'Not easy to use'
* Poor layout - poorly organized website / homepage. No clear sense of order. Lack of clear priorities and decision, probably a reflection of the organization. "We can not identify and meet goals" See also "Not easy to use '
* Not easy to use - hard to use website and website features. Often these technical features are the most advanced software known to man to do a particular function like buying a train ticket. Unfortunately, consider how real people actually want to use the website or website features. Big sign reads: "Oops, we were so busy enjoying making it large software bit we love, we forgot that the user"
* Too much text - we absolutely love to tell you how much we / our product is. We will try and bore you to buy our products with lots of text. Big sign reads: "Just buy our product, you fool, we know best"
* "Brochure" - existing brochure has been moved online. Token website. Is little anybody. Looks great does not it? ... (Not really a question more a statement). We thought we would get a website because everyone else has one. Big sign reads: "Look we've got a website too!"
* Too much animation / other - extra stuff that does not serve any real purpose other than distraction. We absolutely love blinking things / gadgets / buttons / rollers / colors / fonts ... the more the better. More an experiment than a business. Big sign would read: "Our web designer is great isn't he? Or I should have been a programmer"
* Difficult to contact someone - online equivalent to an electric fence. Typically employed by large corporations. They’ve gone to great lengths to ensure it’s very, very difficult actually email anyone in the organization. Big sign reads: "We are too big and rich to talk to the" little people "who actually buy and use our products. Go away!"
Do you recognize some of these from your virtual travels over the Internet? They are all present to some extent in companies of all sizes and industries. Have your site to any of them? If yes, the message you send out to your potential customers will probably not help you succeed online. More likely it will have an adverse effect and direct effect on your image and reputation, customer visits and repeat visits, sales and repeat sales, company performance, customer goodwill and contacts, etc.
Make your site the best it can be. Working on it. Ask for constructive feedback. Make a commitment to get your site to say the right things about you. It would still be paying back long after you've done it.
Good luck!
