It's not just a website - why websites fail

Many website owners have great ideas and get tricked into thinking all they need to do is launch a simple website and they'll magically start raking in the profits. This couldn't be further from the truth. A website is only one piece of the puzzle. A website is the most obvious part of a successful business, because it's all the public sees. 

• Fast Responsive Website
  The public facing side of your business needs to be fast, easy to navigate and fulfil the reason the user came to the website. You have 3 seconds to make an impression, don't ruin it with slow loading graphics or broken code.
  
  
• Lead Generation
  If no one knows your website exists, you will not get any traffic or sales. All websites need a lead gen strategy that is built for long term traffic growth targeting their ideal customer. 
  
  
• Social Media
  Most people check out social accounts to get a sense about the business before they purchase. Don't retweet hunting memes if you sell vegan mouse pads. Your social media should reflect an accurate personal and corporate values.
  
  
• Back Links
  Google says number of backlinks don't matter. It's who links to you that matters. One link from Forbes holds more weight than 300 links from 300 unknown blogs. 
  
  
• Content Marketing
  Content used to be King, now it's the whole kingdom. Great content gets read, shared and re-shared.
  
  
• Hosting
  Often overlooked as a basic utility like electricity or cable, hosting can make or break a website if and when you really need it. Any hosting can handle just you and your staff editing and admiring your own work. Can it handle 100 users, 1000... 10,000 all at once? There is a huge difference between $10 a month and $50 dollar a month hosting. This is not where you should save money... ever.
  
  
• Search Engine Optimization
  If Google doesn't know your website exists, just pack up and go try something else. I'm not saying they have a monopoly, but there's a reason they've become a transitive verb
  
  
• API Automation
  Every action taken on a website such as form submissions, or call to click button, need to be automated. Maybe it's simply adding that user to your mailing list, and sending them a instant reply. Maybe it's triggering events such as ad retargeting and one-off emails based on pages they've visited recently. The more you automate, the more streamlined and clear user experience your customers will receive.