The impacts of a struggling website on a business are more significant that you might think. With how important websites are in today’s digital age, having a lacking one is almost as bad as not having one at all.
Things like low traffic and poor conversions are happening for a reason, and they can quickly start to hurt other areas of your business – your engagement, your reputation, and even your sales.
But small changes can make a big difference, you just have to know what you’re looking for and what to do. Making minor content and design tweaks, or more consistent updates can take your website from struggling to thriving.
To help you enhance your website, let’s break down why it’s so important to your business, common issues you may face, and how to fix them.
Why Your Website Matters
Our world is more digital than ever. Smart devices, easy internet access, it all leads to a more competitive landscape and more tech savvy audience (with a shorter attention span). Because of this, your website is more essential to your business than before.
Your website is likely most people’s first impression of your company. It’s their first look at who you are and what you can offer them. So, if it’s not up to par, you’re losing customers before you ever have a chance to build a relationship with them.
Think of your website as a 24/7 salesperson for your business. It’s the place where people can learn about, interact with, and make decisions about you at any time and place. If what it’s selling them isn’t up to par, you’re pushing people away before they even get in the door.
And not to mention, if your site is set up poorly, it’s likely that people aren’t even finding it. Low SEO scores push your business further down the list when people search for topics related to your company or brand, so your site could be hurting your chances of people even learning about you.
Common Mistakes Websites Make
There’s a lot that goes into making a website successful – most of which can easily be overlooked. And when that happens, it leads to issues that negatively impact a website’s success. Let’s break down 7 of the more common mistakes websites make and how to fix them.
Mistake #1 – Slow Speeds
People’s attention spans’ are shorter than ever, so a slow website is one of the main frustrations people face online, making them more likely to close the page without waiting for it to load. Slow website speeds lead to higher bounce rates and lower SEO scores, ultimately making your site harder to find and less engaging for users. This typically stems from too many plugins or unused content in the backend, large media files, or bad hosting plans.
Easy fixes for this are to clean up the backend of your site – get rid of anything not actively being used so it’s not taking up unnecessary space, compress images, and ensure you have the right hosting plan for your needs.
Mistake #2 – Not Mobile Friendly
The majority of users are visiting websites on a mobile device of some sort. Because of that, you need a mobile-friendly website so they still have a good experience regardless of screen size. If your site doesn’t work well on smaller screens, you’re more likely to lose visitors before they even get around the site – and not to mention the impact it has on SEO. Google looks at how mobile friendly your site is when ranking them for their search engines.
Using responsive design for your website and testing it across a variety of screen sizes before going live can help fix these issues. You also want to ensure you have a simple navigation menu that’s easy to find and use on a smaller screen.
Mistake #3 – Bad Navigation
When people can’t find what they need on a website, they’re more likely to close out than dig further into it. So having poor website navigation – including complicated or overcrowded menus – is likely to lead to lower conversion rates.
The main way to fix bad navigation is to keep it simple – make your menus easy to find and intuitive so people can quickly get to where they want to be. This isn’t the time or place to list out every page on your website – instead focus on key pages that people are most likely to be looking for and go from there.
Mistake #4 – Calls to Action
You want people to take more action than just clicking on your website – you want them to fill out a form, sign up for something, make a purchase, etc. In order to get them to do those things, you need to have direct calls to action to lead them in that direction. By not having CTAs that draw users in and lead to them actually doing something, you’re missing an opportunity for more leads and sales.
Having action-driven language on your site is the easiest fix for this problem. Put clear, clickable CTAs throughout your site that are visually appealing to draw people’s attention and get them engaged.
Mistake #5 – Poor SEO
It can be easy to overlook SEO once you get into the groove of building your site, but without at least basic SEO your website isn’t going to rank well. This means people aren’t going to be able to find it without knowing the exact link of where they’re trying to go. So all the hard work you put into building your site will essentially be for nothing.
To help boost your SEO, make sure you’re using keywords relevant to your business, industry, and location, and not skipping out on the backend SEO – meta tags, headers, and descriptions. And don’t forget about the alt text on photos and videos. These make your site more accessible, something search engines look at when ranking.
Mistake #6 – Outdated Design
If your site isn’t current, it’s likely leading to frustrations from your customers. Outdated website design, incorrect information, links that don’t work – all of these make you look less credible and turn people away.
To fix this, make sure you’re regularly updating your site and all its components – the content, designs, plugins, and security. This will keep it working at its best – while also ensuring you’re keeping up with the times.
Mistake #7 – No Analytics
Even if data and analytics isn’t your strong suit, not tracking information and using it to better your business and website is a mistake. Without data – such as traffic patterns and sources, bounce rates, conversion rates, and top-performing pages and content – you don’t know what’s actually working on your site or what you need to improve. This means underperforming pages continue to exist without you even realizing it.
By setting up an analytics program, you can easily track data, see what users are doing on the site, and use that information to make a gameplan for the future.
A struggling website can’t fix itself. But a few quick and easy repairs can make a big difference in its overall success. By understanding and identifying these common mistakes your website may be facing, you can make strategic, intentional updates that will help boost your business online.
How We Can Help
At WePro, our team is here to help you with all aspects of your website. From the initial designs to development and long-term maintenance, our goal is to help companies find success in the crowded online space with a top-notch website.
Whether you need to make some updates, are building a new site, or even if you just want someone to look through your site and give you suggestions for the best path forward, we’re here to serve you!
Send us a message and let us make your vision a reality!
