Typically when I see a title like this I groan, because I know that the body is going to rehash the tired SEO cliches: check your meta tags, write quality content, put your content in social media… blah blah blah.

Today I’m taking a different tack. Below are 8 cures to the most oft-encountered and frustrating web marketing mistakes we see on a daily basis. Take the time to investigate each point in relation to your website and make sure you’re on top of your web marketing game.

1. Make sure your address works

Almost all web users today will drop the ‘www’ from web addresses when they type them in. In this age there really is no excuse for www.yoursite.com and yoursite.com to not take a visitors to the same page.

Just the other day, however, I discovered a former client whose server is unreachable when you attempt to access their site without the ‘www’. When I brought it to their attention, the response was “Yeah, you have to use the ‘www’.”

This just won’t cut it if I hear about your company at a tradeshow or via some other word of mouth. In fact, even if someone gets a business card with www.yoursite.com on it, they are likely to drop the ‘www’ when they visit your site. And seeing a big “Site not found” error message is destructive to your brand (especially, in this case, for a technology company!).

2. Set up goals in Analytics/AdWords

Let’s assume you’re building a website to be more than just a business card with your phone number on it. Users should be able to take some kind of action directly on your website. Shouldn’t you know how many people are actually taking that action?

Too many times I see Analytics and AdWords accounts set up without any kind of goal or conversion tracking. It is so important to know how different groups of people experience your site, and how many of them actually take the actions you want them to take. Sometimes, it’s the only way to know when a certain web browser has issues displaying your website, as I’ve discovered with several different clients.

If you don’t have anything to track then your website has a larger problem. You need to figure out why you have a website, and what you want visitors to do when they arrive.

3. Point your ‘Home’ link to the right place

Go to your website, click over to a page from your navigation. Now click on ‘Home’ or your website’s logo. What page are you on now? (If you don’t have a ‘Home’ link and your logo does nothing, make that change right away so that someone can navigate back to your main page via one or both options)

Are you currently at ‘www.yoursite.com/’? Or do you have ‘index.php’, ‘default.aspx’ or another page name at the end of your URL? Ask your web designer to modify the code to point the user back to root “/”. Why? Often when someone links to your website it will be after they’ve been to other pages on the site. If they get the link from your site from the home or logo links, they will point to a different page than what most people regard as ‘home’ (e.g. ‘www.yoursite.com/’).

This can also create problems with search engines, who will split the credit of your links between the root of your site and the index page, both of which have the same content, eventually resulting in both pages having reduced authority.

4. Monitor your server

There is no more excuse for shoddy hosting. Rock solid, scalable servers can be had for less than $25 a month, and are more than enough for most websites.

Use this tool from Pingdom (the first site is free!) to monitor the uptime and response time of your webserver. When you get downtime notices inquire about them with your host. If your server responds slowly or is down often, ask around for a hosting recommendation. Odds are you can find something better.

You can also use this tool to find out what your “neighborhood” looks like. See what other websites are on the same server as your website. Are there several thousand other sites? Are there sites featuring adult or illegal content? It might be time to consider moving.

5. Check your load time

Another great tool from Pingdom allows you to check how long it takes individual pages to load. Your homepage and any landing pages you use for promotion through email, PPC, etc. should respond quickly and fully load within 10 seconds (2 seconds if your audience is more tech-savvy).

Try to optimize slow-loading pages by combining Javascript and CSS files using a tool like Minify. You can also talk to your designer about using fewer images, or rearranging the order in which they load so that the content is displayed first.

6. See how your site appears to searchers

Go to Google do some searchers where your website features in the top 10 results (don’t have any? Contact us for some help). Take a deep breath and honestly evaluate the title and description of your site compared with your competitors.

Ask yourself honestly: given the other choices on the page and the information your site provides, would you click on your site as opposed to the others? Why or why not?

Getting ranked highly is only half the battle. You also need a compelling title and description to get visitors to click over to your site. Think about some text that would make your audience click for more information.

7. Tell your visitors what you do

The first big headline on your website should tell your visitors what you do in simple, universal terms. Does your company build software? Then write “We Build Custom Software Applications” not “We Deliver Paradigm Shifts Through Techno-Friendly Tactics” You have 2.5 seconds to grab someone’s attention, don’t make them wade through a string of buzzwords to find out if you’re the right fit for them.

8. Tell your visitors what you want them to do

If I told you the number of websites I have seen without a clear call to action on the homepage you would be astounded. If you are building your website with a purpose, then make that purpose clear. Should I submit my contact information for a free estimate? Then tell me to do that. Should I view your pricing sheet? Give me a big fat ‘Download Now’ link.