Website Development and Mistakes That Can Hinder Digital Marketing Success

In today’s digital world—where speed, competition, and data reign—there are still unfortunate cases where newly launched websites or e-commerce stores are doomed to fail from day one. Although these projects may seem flawless on the surface, their internal structure is often unstable and messy. This becomes a major obstacle to scaling and developing the business. Instead of being an investment, such digital projects become hidden liabilities that not only hinder progress but can also destroy the business’s full potential.

In this article, we’ll explore the most important aspects every business owner or digital team should consider when starting a website or online store development process. Together with developers and web development experts, we’ll cover:

1.One of the biggest mistakes: a primitive approach to website development.

2.Poor programming that halts digital marketing efforts.

3.A messy URL structure – the silent killer of search engine rankings.

4.What you must know before beginning the development process.

Planning Your Website Project

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 = 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.

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 Mistake

A disorganized URL structure is often overlooked but can critically damage your 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.