Examples of Bad Websites

Is it a bad sign if your website's 'hit counter' shows only 1398 visits, and you've been in business since 2000?  Or, like us, are you just stunned there's a website out there that still has a hit counter!?

The whole site's a mess.  There's no design to speak of, the Testimonials are all gibberish, and the Our Clients list has many links to out-of-service websites, websites with malware warnings, or (sadly) websites that have since been redone by other companies.

With a name like "QualityHosting4U", it makes us think of Prince.  Maybe that's why this site hasn't been updated in a while!  R.I.P., Prince.  This website is 2bad 2B 4gotten.

It is possible that this 1999 website was once the way to get noticed if you were a band that had no other way to get your music 'out there.'  However, MySpace soon came around, and now (of course) there are many other outlets to feature new artists and music.

So what is this website doing?  Like a houseguest that won't leave, it's just taking up space and not contributing at all.  The Artists Login doesn't work, nor can a New Artist sign up.  Seeing the Featured Artist post is from 2001 tells us that this bad website must have been abandoned, and is waiting out what must have been 20 years of pre-paid hosting.

Just for fun, we clicked on MP3s, and found pages and pages of bands/songs that would make great trivia team names.  We Should Be Sledding, anyone?  How about The Red Meat of Texas or Twerk-U-Lator?  Fun stuff.

It's always a bit sad to see a business using an email address @ their ISP instead of @ their domain.  Today's bad website suffers from this easy-to-change trifle. Imagine Mark Zuckerberg having "CEO@aol.com" as his email address.  You get the point.

Linking to content within your website is great, by using a link.  Simply mentioning 'check out our Equipment Section for a list of equipment' just sounds silly - especially when there is no Equipment section.  !!!

Running your copy through spellcheck is also a good idea.

Page titles are a great opportunity to achieve search result placement, so HOME, CNC, CNC CONTINUED, CONVENTIONAL, SAMPLE PARTS, and CONTACT US were misspent efforts.

All of these faults might have been masked or hidden by a great design, but alas...that's not the case.

Today's bad website should really come with a eulogy.  Why, you ask?

1.  It is 'best viewed' at 800x600

2.  Using netscape 4+ or IE 4.5+

3.  You must choose "highband Flash' or 'lowband Flash' to enter.

Netscape is dead, and so is Flash.  But go on in, if you'd like to basically enter a museum of when Flash was new and 'cool.'

Remember when Links pages were considered essential components of a website? You may be too young to recall.  However, when only ONE of your 21 'medical partners' links is still an active practice, it would seem you were not keeping quality company.

We've talked about keywords in the past, and how many you should have.  Some people are saying "keywords don't matter" and maybe they're right.  They certainly don't matter if you misspell them!  This site has 'illinios', 'spider viens' and 'tatoo removal' among others.

But first, and worse, is the look and feel.  IF you're into cosmetic procedures, trust and competence are just two of the qualities we would assume are important to you when searching for a provider.  Today's bad website does nothing to inspire either one of those.  Rather than an unnaturally pink butterfly in the header image, how about some beautiful people?  The site is unfortunately image-free, when in fact it should be image-heavy, if what you're selling is visible physical improvement.

The navigation, what there is of it, is dismal.  You actually have to click on one of the Specialties to get into deeper content.  Choose carefully, they don't all work.  Most just pop open a contact window.

There is a comical special on the front page for Laser Hair Removal that invites you to Bring a Hairy Friend!  Who's the lucky one!?