Examples of Bad Websites

Today's bad website is an odd one.  The name of the company is All About Holes, but it's not obvious what it does.  It could be about pothole repair?  The inappropriate apostrophes (possessive instead of plural) under the title don't help.

Reading the content on the landing page doesn't help clear anything up, especially the part in tiny blue italics.  People - if we can't read what you've written, don't bother writing it.  

Very little on this website is dated more recently than 2010, so perhaps this site is for a company no longer active.  The purple and orange color scheme is also quite dated, if in fact it was EVER trendy.  Points for the cute traffic cone favicon, though.

What IS it with companies that call themselves 'advanced,' then present a website that is definitely not?  Today's old website is in serious need of updating.  Even the text is silly:  "futuristic" bagging technology.

A few things that aren't futuristic - the design, a News page with none on it, and a location map image (an image!) instead of the standard Google map with the ability to plot directions from anywhere.  It's also not responsive, nor has it been optimized for mobile use.

Even if your company is really, really good at what you do, if your online 'face' is dated, potential customers unfamiliar with your business will assume you are too.

Checking the definition of "virtual," we find that the primary definition is "almost or nearly as described, but not completely."  Now that we know - it does accurately describe today's bad website.

It's not a stamp club - how could it be?  It's a website.  Maybe it's about virtual stamps...but no.  It's just a mess.  Colors, fonts, styles, mixed backgrounds, ads - it's all over the place.

A lot of navigation choices go to pages under construction, some take you completely away from this site with nothing but your back button to anchor you.  A link to the VSC shop goes straight to CafePress - with no stamps in sight. 

The bad website featured today has a lot going on, including a really funny link called "How to Dispose of Traffic Citations."  For real?  We thought you were supposed to PAY them, but if disposal is an option, cool.

There's a link to 'Jail ATM' (motto: "Living without them is hard.  Showing you care isn't") where you can buy your inmate some snack packs ranging from Fiery Hot to Noodle Snack Pack.  We are not making this up.  Because nothing says "we miss you Dad!" like Ramen noodles and some Flaming Peanuts.

There's also a link to "sex offender WEBSITE."  NOT clicking on that.  Maybe we would if the link was to a sex offender REGISTRY.

Lastly, there's a proudly waving American Flag, a giant yellow stuffed animal relaxing on a settee, and what we all dread seeing in our rearview mirrors:  blinking light bars.

Thank goodness the price of doing business with this company is front and center - because would you pay more than $99 for a horrible website like this?  Well wait - it STARTS at $99.  But that's too much to pay for what you're looking at.

Four instances of Flash on the landing page, hard to read white text on bright blue and black, a tiny carousel of featured web (sic) sites, in a non-reponsive container.  All easy issues to tackle for improvement.

There's nothing on this website to make a visitor think "HEY - this looks like a GREAT choice to design our new website!"