Looks like you’re ready to mine the riches of the Internet!

You invested in a good website. You are publishing useful and engaging content. You even have a blog where you hope to get feedback from potential customers. And you have submitted your website to the search engines.

Good work.

Then, the spoiler: A well-meaning friend calls you to ask who designed your “sloppy” website.

You can’t believe how she describes your baby… in your face. Since she is your friend you give her the benefit of, well, friendship.

You ask, What’s sloppy about my website?

Supposed to be the well-meaning friend that she is, she describes in graphic detail the “mess” in your site. You’re both online and on the same page, but you don’t see what she is describing in mock abandon ( such as the “missing” image and “mashed up” text).

Of course, you cannot see the “mess” that she sees because she is using a different browser.

This kind of browser issue happens when a website looks great in Internet Explorer, for example, but loses its functionality with other browsers such as Firefox.

Lesson number one: Test, test, test.

This minor glitch can be easily fixed. Unknowingly overlooked, however, a cluttered website (in the eyes of customers or prospects who are using different browsers) will give your company or brand a bad image.

Paying attention to simple, basic things could spell the success of an online marketing campaign.