Big SEO Mistake #1: Using a "Plug and Play" Website Template
I’ve been working on a complete Website overhaul for a dentist and noted, while cruising around the Internet, that many dentists across the U.S. use templated or “out of the box” Websites.
For busy dentists, these types of Websites make sense: you get a template with all the pages you need and you simply plug in your content via a content management system (CMS). The CMS even shows you where to add in your name and local keywords, such as the towns from which your patients come in order to help with local search.
The danger with these sites, however, is that they come with “hidden” code. Because the dentist has no clue about HTML or SEO, they don’t know that their source code is filled with stuff like this (name changed to protect the scumbag company):
Copyright 2009 Scumbag, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This software, source code, HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and all other content and code is copyrighted
by Scumbag, Inc. and may NOT be copied, reproduced, translated, reverse engineered, reduced to
any electronic medium or machine-readable form without the prior written consent of Scumbag, Inc.,
except that you may use it according to our Terms of Use agreement. Terms of Use may be
modified at anytime, and you agree to be bound by such modifications.
As small business owners find, much to their dismay, the scumbag company could construe these terms to say they own your site and your content. Afterall, the copyright is there in the code.
According to my Web designer, Jim Somers at Sonora DesignWorks, he gets calls all the time from companies that learn they don’t even own their own domain names because they went with a Web marketing company offering a “turnkey Website solution.”
In addition to the above copy found in one dentist’s source code, I also found that the scumbag company also included links back to its site via the image alt tags. Nice — for the scumbag company!
Key takeaway for small businesses: You get what you pay for. If you have no clue about Website design, SEO, online marketing or anything else, get help. Don’t settle for the cheapest alternative or a DIY site. You’ll end up paying much more than if you had simply went the professional route the first time around.
June 2nd, 2009 at 9:08 am
[...] Original post by Big SEO Mistake #1: Using a “Plug and Play” Website Template [...]
June 2nd, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Your “key takeway” is so good … if only all smaller businesses would heed your warning and your excellent advice.
June 2nd, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Right on Dianna!
Show me a “template” website that is top ranked for any competitive keyword/keyword phrase and I’m buying lunch.
What people will waste money on never ceases to amaze me.
June 2nd, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Sponge,
Thank you! I appreciate the support.
Chris, Now I have to find a top ranked site so that you can buy me lunch.
June 3rd, 2009 at 7:58 am
Great post and informative too. I’ve come across a few businesses that use template sites but the bad thing is that they never put all the correct information in so half the pages are missing which gives a bad impression to any people looking at the site. Your Key Takeaway point is very true and more companies should take this advice.
June 3rd, 2009 at 9:34 am
Dianna,
A quick and dirty option is to set up a blog instead of a static web page. It can be cheap or free. And it might do the job for businesses willing to keep adding content and engage readers (read customers) in conversation.
Morty
June 3rd, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Oliver, Yes, I agree — I have seen many templated sites that look terrible because the person / company didn’t know how to use them.
Morty, I agree about setting up a blog but you still need help setting up a customized blog. I personally don’t like the standard WP templates. And, if you don’t know WP, you do need a WP blog expert to set it up for you (I know, having now set up three blogs for clients).
I use WP for this blog and find I need help with all all the coding, installing tricky plugins, updating WP, etc.
June 25th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Perfect timing for this post. The “template” companies have not worked for me. I have spent a lot of time “doing it myself”- and there is always something I can’t fix.
I waste a lot of time- & in the end I don’t have a website.
Than the bigger question I am seeking th answer to is: who do you hire & what is a reasonable price to pay?
June 25th, 2009 at 11:40 am
Dianna,
Thank you for the sound advice. As someone thinking about starting a small business and creating a Website for that purpose, the first resource I would have turned to is a template vendor. Now I know better thanks to your informative and interesting post – and to the comments from your readers!
June 25th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Great timing for me as well…
I have been speaking with someone about a site redesign. He uses JOOMLA, which I had never heard of. He would get it up and running, then we’d be on our own to update, etc. (He would be training me, and then available at an hourly rate to help once it’s up and running.) I’ve done some initial research on JOOMLA, but would love any thoughts, advice, etc. This new site is most probably going to involve e-commerce as well.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Diane M. -
Joomla is an open source platform that allows users to change and modify their websites without having to know html. There are lots of plugins that extend the basic program to allow you to do almost anything! eCommerce is on of those add ons that is available. I will say that personally I have not been overwhelmed by the ecommerce programs available for Joomla but they are just as good or better than other open source offerings. Depending on what you want to do and your budget, there may be other ecommerce options available that would suit you better.
Joomla is a great CMS and has a very active community which means that is is constantly being worked on and added to.
I think the thing to remember with any content management system (CMS) is that it is a tool. It gives you the ability to do a task; you still need to know what you are doing for your website to be a success- which is where the professional help comes in. Anyone can spend enough time on the internet learning about websites, SEO, ecommerce etc. to create and build their own site, but the time you spent doing that is time away from your core business and opportunities lost.
Another nice thing about Joomla is if you end up not being pleased with your original developer or the hosting they offer, it would be easy to move your site to another provider as long as you have an export of your database. Most “site builder” applications are proprietary and you would not be able to pick up and move your site if necessary.
Hope that helps!
June 25th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Liz,
Thanks for the Joomla explanation.
Dave, I use Sonora DesignWorks in Amesbury MA for my Website design. I’ve been working with Jim, the owner, since 1998. He’s a great guy and his firm does excellent work. His firm did my DH Communications site and we’ve done a number of other sites jointly.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
For the little non-profit and small businesses, I have used and recommend templates from http://www.AllWebCo.com. I know what you mean about hidden code and licensing agreements that don’t allow you to own your content. AllWebCo is upfront about the ownership of the site and allows removal of any reference to AllWebCo including their copyright notices.
The best part – the sites are easy to use with just a little HTML knowledge. They can be edited completely in FrontPage or even Notepad. Change the content, the images, the navigation and its up and running. Host through them or another provider.
Two non-profit sites started with AllWebCo templates….
http://www.kolbehouseministry.org (jail ministry in Cook County, IL)
http://www.tcfchicago.org (peer support after the death of a child)
I’m not affiliated with AllWebCo, just a pleased customer.
June 25th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
John,
The problem, though, is that many people, especially people like dentists, just are not savvy enough to even look for hidden code. Nor do they know how to customize a site through Frontpage or Notepad. They also get taken to the cleaners by “hosting” companies — and have no clue they can move their sites to other hosting companies (nor do they even know how to do it).
June 27th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
[...] Big SEO Mistake #1: Using a “Plug and Play” Website Template » B2B … [...]
June 30th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
[...] came across this interesting article by Diana Huff on her MarCom Writer Blog…Big SEO Mistake #1: using a “Plug and Play” Website Template. She explains clearly why this seeminlgy simple solution for a small businesses’ Web site may [...]
September 4th, 2009 at 10:54 am
Hey Dianna,
Great post. This can be a very powerful selling tool for me. Thank you for sharing!
Seth
September 4th, 2009 at 11:41 am
I think a Wordpress installation and templates would be a good work around for some these people who have a hard time with site design.
November 23rd, 2009 at 4:14 am
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