Is Your Website Underperforming? The Top 10 Reasons Why Websites Fail
Posted on 5th June 2023
Is your business performing as it should online? Is your website generating valuable leads, or driving sales?
Unfortunately, for many small business owners, the answer to the above question is a resounding ‘no’! Having a website should provide real returns on your investment and help to drive your organisation towards its goals – and if yours doesn’t, it’s time for a rethink.
Here are the top 10 reasons why websites don’t perform as they should:
1. Lack of promotion
It doesn’t matter how good your website looks, how great the functionality is and how well written the content is – if you’re not getting visitors, then it’s not going to perform for your business.
Every website needs traffic, and you need to market your website in order to drive relevant traffic to it. This might include:
SEO – see point 10!
Social Media Marketing
Online Marketing
PR
PPC
Advertising
2. It isn’t responsive
Today, more people use mobile devices to view websites than desktop or laptop computers – and your website design needs to reflect that.
In 2023, responsive/mobile friendly design is essential – your website needs to look great and work perfectly on all kinds of different devices. In fact, search engines have already started to punish sites that aren’t mobile friendly, pushing them down the rankings.
3. It has no purpose
Every website, and every single page on it needs a clearly defined purpose – without one, it simply won’t achieve your objectives.
Before creating any website, it’s important to think about what you want it to do, who your target audience is, and the actions you want visitors to take. This information will then help to inform the design and functionality of your site.
4. Poor design
The design of your website says a lot about your business. Today, a company website is likely to be the first port of call for your potential customers – and you only get one chance to make a first impression!
If your website looks out of date, is poorly designed, or is in a style that’s unsuitable for your market – then your customers are likely to go elsewhere.
5. Too slow
In a world of superfast internet and 4G connections, people expect your website to load fast! According to Google, the majority of web users now expect a site to load in 3 seconds or less.
Every second counts, and if a page takes longer than 3 seconds to load, then customers start abandoning the site to look elsewhere – potentially costing you sales. Ensuring that your website is mobile friendly, properly configured and optimised will help to slash loading times. Investing in high quality, reliable hosting can also ensure that your site stays up to speed.
6. No calls to action
The purpose a business website is to encourage visitors to take action – whether that’s making an order, arranging a meeting, signing up for a mailing list or picking up the phone.
Without clear calls to action, visitors won’t necessarily know what you want them to do, and won’t be compelled to engage with your business in the way you want them to.
7. Hard to navigate around
Web visitors need to be able to find the information they’re looking for, quickly and easily. If your website is a rabbit warren of dead-end pages, unnecessary sub-sections and complicated menus, visitors will become frustrated and go elsewhere.
When it comes to navigation, keep things simple and follow the ‘3 click rule’ – visitors should be able to find all the info they want from your site within 3 mouse clicks.
8. Broken pages and links
If your website doesn’t work properly, it will put visitors off! Small changes and updates can have far reaching consequences for the performance of your site. Check your website regularly for broken links and errors, and fix them quickly.
9. Bad quality content
Content is king – quality web content will help to boost the performance of your website.
Conversely, if your content is long-winded, boring or littered with errors, it will reflect badly on your business, and your website won’t perform as it should. If you are getting plenty of web traffic, but not converting any of it into sales, it may be time to take another look at your copy.
10. Failure to optimise
If potential customers can’t find you online (or they find your competitors first), your business isn’t going to perform as it could online.
For most customers, the buying process starts with a Google search, which is why it’s essential that you take steps to optimise your site for the search engines. Quality content, the right keywords and an effective, ongoing SEO strategy will all help to improve the visibility of your site and encourage quality traffic.
Tagged as: Stroud web design, website best practice
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