10 Ways Visitors Tell You Your Site Sucks

If you’ve ever created your own website then at this point you have no doubt discovered the whole new world of tactics that people use to tell you that you stink. For those of you unfamiliar with the many tools available for giving someone the raspberry, we offer this list – 10 ways visitors tell you that your site sucks:

1. Comments – You’ve provided a comments section on your website, a convenient way for visitors to say you suck in plain English. No ambiguity here, but you at least have the ability to delete the comments if you can’t handle the truth.
2. Thumbs Down – A more anonymous, or at least less personal, approach is to simply vote with a thumbs down. It alleviates you having to read in sordid, graphic detail, just how badly you suck. Not quite as damaging to the ego as the verbatim approach.
3. Unlike – Similar to the thumbs down is the unlike button. Here the idea again is an approach with a bit more anonymity and obtuse criticism. Because there isn’t a lot of thought required, you can reassure yourself that the guilty party doesn’t really think you suck, but simply clicked on the wrong icon, or was just upset because the page took too long to load.
4. Friendly advice – A more diplomatic approach might be for the visitor to politely recommend that you employ the help of a professional web designer. It’s a clever way of suggesting that your site looks like crap, and that the immediate assistance of someone who doesn’t suck is strongly advised.
5. Helpful hints – Alternately your visitors might frequently recommend a change in content. Not quite as blatant as telling you to upgrade the drivel that you’re serving, but the import is basically the same.
6. No backlink reciprocation – When backlinking to other websites that you follow, you may notice that the owners of those sites are not reciprocating. This could merely be an oversight or social networking faux pas on their part. Or it may just be that you suck.
7. Open forums – Open forums are a great way of networking with other users with similar interests. It’s also an excellent venue through which one might broadcast the fact that you do indeed suck.
8. Facebook pages – For the more vociferous non-fans among your visitors, there is the nuclear option: hosting a Facebook page entitled: (Your Site Name Here) Sucks – And Everybody Knows It. Don’t pay any mind to the fact that the Facebook page has 13,000 likes and 8,500 friends.
9. Flagged content – Depending upon the degree to which your site sucks, some visitors may be so motivated to say so as to flagging it on search engines. This could be an indication that not only does your site suck, but that certain aspects of it are downright offensive.
10. Inability to retrain readers – By and large, the method of choice for voicing disapproval of your website is the silent but deadly voting with one’s feet – or in this case, one’s mouse. They will simply and quietly move on, never to return.

Being told you suck is never fun, but sometimes these less than positive comments can be just the advice we need to hear so that we can correct our erroneous ways. If you listen to your readers and use those negative comments to turn your site into something positive and soon enough you’ll be floored with positive feedback. At least, that’s what we hope will happen.

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