IIn today’s digital world—where speed, competition, and data rule—far too many newly launched websites and e-commerce stores are set up to fail from day one. Even when a project looks flawless on the surface, its website development foundations are often unstable or poorly planned. This weak backend becomes a major barrier to growth, scaling, and revenue. Instead of being a long-term investment, these digital projects turn into hidden liabilities that slow down progress and limit the full potential of the business. In this article, we’ll explore the essential factors every business owner or digital team should evaluate before and during the website development process. Together with developers and technical experts, we’ll break down how poor execution directly impacts digital marketing performance and long-term business results. We’ll cover:
What you must know before starting the development process.
One of the most common pitfalls: a primitive, short-sighted approach to website development.
How poor programming blocks effective digital marketing.
Why a messy URL structure is the silent killer of search engine rankings.
The Website Development Mistakes That Hold Back Your Digital Marketing Performance
Planning Your Website Development Project Effectively
A primitive approach to planning and delegating website development tasks is often the root of poor programming. Many businesses fail to realize how complex a website project can be, expecting it to be just about design and coding. This misunderstanding leads to the neglect of crucial elements such as business development, marketing goals, and data integration opportunities.
Vitalijus Ežerskis, head of Webber IT Solutions, explains that many clients don’t clearly know what they want or how to communicate it when they request programming services. Most small businesses begin without a clear strategy, lack a defined technical task, and fail to involve experts who can evaluate how the project should integrate with other systems. As a result, the final product often lacks essential integrations, fails to meet analytical standards, and cannot scale with business needs.
Ežerskis recommends hiring an external project manager or auditor who understands all project stages and can ensure smooth execution. This reduces the risk of unfinished tasks and helps ensure that the end product is well-built and functional.
Poor Programming in Website Development Leads to Critical Data Loss
One of the most critical issues in poorly built e-commerce websites is missing or inaccurate data. Improper development can result in essential data about user behavior, product performance, or conversions not being collected—or being collected incorrectly. This makes it impossible to determine where users are coming from, what they do on the site, which pages underperform, or which sources generate conversions.
Andrius Kačionas, head of Elektroninio Verslo Grupė, says developers often encounter situations where marketers struggle to launch campaigns or track performance due to technical issues. A common problem: misconfigured cookies.
For example, a client launched a new e-commerce site, but Google Analytics showed zero conversions—it turned out the consent banner was incorrectly implemented, so data wasn’t being collected.So it will have a direct influence on poor digital marketing performance.
In another case, a marketing team noticed that bounce rates skyrocketed after a campaign launch. Analysis revealed that the website loaded too slowly, especially on mobile, due to a poorly optimized responsive version and uncompressed images. This directly reduced ad effectiveness.
A Messy URL Structure: A Critical Website Development Mistake
A disorganized URL structure is often overlooked but can critically damage your digital marketing: SEO, advertising, and analytics. URLs are a core component of website architecture. A clear, logical, and consistent structure helps users navigate the site and allows Google to index pages correctly.
Chaotic, auto-generated URLs without content indicators prevent behavior tracking and campaign analysis. Paulius Remeika, head of Web Creations, notes that poor URL management can lead to SEO ranking drops or even cause Google Ads campaigns to stop working—especially when URLs are changed without proper 301 redirects.
In one case, poor URL structure and sloppy technical execution cost a client €800 in ad budget losses. After correcting these issues, their ROAS increased sixfold.
A good example of a clean and effective URL structure is the news portal 15min.lt, which has SEO-friendly URLs that allow easy filtering of content by topic in analytics tools.
What to Remember Before Starting Website Development
While we could analyze mistakes endlessly, the key is to understand how to avoid the vicious cycle of poor web development.
When choosing a digital system for your business, look beyond functionality alone. Evaluate how well it integrates with your business tools and what options it offers for future growth.
Key points to consider
When choosing a digital system for your website or e-commerce business, it’s crucial to think beyond surface-level functionality. Key factors like server support and maintenance costs directly impact long-term ROI, while compatibility with search engines determines whether your site will even be found. Seamless integration with analytics tools is essential for tracking user behavior and making informed decisions, just as effective connections with marketing platforms—such as Meta, Google Ads, and automation tools—are vital for campaign success. For e-commerce, product catalog integrations with systems like Amazon, Google Merchant, CRM, or inventory management are especially important. This decision should never be left solely to the IT team or based on personal preference. Instead, involve SEO and marketing specialists early to ensure their technical needs are met. Don’t rely solely on vendor promises—talk to long-term users, learn about their challenges, and review financial outcomes. A thorough and critical evaluation is the only way to choose a system that supports both immediate needs and sustainable growth.
Your website can become a powerful product and tool—just don’t skip the essential steps we’ve outlined here. Still have questions or doubts? Get in touch with us for a consultation here.
FAQ
How can poor website development affect my digital marketing results?
Poor website development can slow down your site, harm user experience, damage SEO performance, and reduce conversions — all of which directly weaken digital marketing ROI.
What are the most common website development mistakes that hurt SEO?
Common issues include messy URL structures, missing metadata, slow page speed, broken links, duplicate content, improper redirects, and unoptimized mobile experience.
Why is website speed so important for digital marketing?
Slow-loading websites increase bounce rates, negatively affect Google rankings, and reduce the effectiveness of paid campaigns where every click costs money.
Can poor coding impact paid advertising campaigns?
Yes. If your website loads slowly or has tracking issues, paid ads (Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn) deliver worse results. Poor coding often breaks tracking pixels, conversions, and audience signals.
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