Do you feel as though your website is failing to deliver the results you are looking for? Maybe you have had a couple of sites built in the past, but things don’t look to be working as well as they could be. From lack of traffic to huge drops in sales, it’s time to look at the top reasons why your site may not be doing very well.
It’s Not Mobile-Friendly
Everyone in this day and age has a smartphone. With mobile users slowly overtaking desktop users, it’s safe to say that you need to do whatever you can to optimize your site for mobile. If you want to make sure that your potential customers have the best experience possible then one thing you can do is make sure that your site is mobile-friendly. Unfortunately, this isn’t a quick fix at all. You will need to get a whole new site developed, but if you go ahead and do this then you can at least feel confident knowing that it is going to be way more suited to your customers and their growing needs.
Bad User Experience
If your site isn’t easy to navigate and if it’s not easy to use then you may find that this works against you. It may confuse users as well. This is the last thing you need. One way for you to work around this would be for you to keep your website visitors in mind. From your landing pages to your navigation, you need to make sure that your website helps to guide people so that they know what action you want them to take. This also makes it easier for you to achieve your goals. One way for you to fix this would be for you to try and improve your user experience by using a platform. Google Analytics is a great option here, as it helps you to track the people who are using your site. You can also identify potential problems, which may occur later down the line.
No SEO
One of the biggest reasons why people don’t achieve the results they want is because they don’t optimize their site for SEO. Did you know that over 93% of online experiences start with a search engine? If you want to capitalize on this then you have to make sure that your website is fully optimized for search. Some of the signs that your SEO is not up to scratch include the fact that you are lacking organic traffic or that you cannot find your website on Google. General lack of visitors is another huge concern, so you need to keep this in mind as much as possible. An easy fix would be for you to use Google Search Console. This is one of the first places you should check, as you can see if there are any potential issues that could be affecting your site. You can also find out if there are any search engines that could be stopping your pages from being crawled. When you have data such as this, you can then find out what pages have been indexed by Google, as well as finding out what search queries people are using to reach your site. This is the best way for you to put together a plan of action so you can benefit your SEO going forward.
Slow-Loading Websites
Is your website a bit slow to load? Website speed is so important if you want to give your users the best possible experience. Slow-loading websites tend to frustrate users and this can cause them to leave. This is very much the case if they are using a mobile device. Visitors expect your site to load within 3 seconds or less, so if yours isn’t then this is a major sign that things have to change. If you want to fix this issue then using tools, which can include Google Page Speed Insights and even GT Metric will help you to pinpoint problems that relate to how fast your website can load. You can also get some general tips that will help your site here too. This could include enabling compression, as well as caching. You might also want to minimize the size of images and defer JavaScript parsing. For most, page speed increases will mean that you have to hire a website developer so you can find out what changes you need to make and why.
Not having a CTA
You could have the best site in the world, but if you do not have a CTA then this will work against you. Calls to action have to be stand-out and they also need to entice visitors to take the next step in their journey. Take a look at your site, and make sure that it is clear what action you want people to take on every page. If you don’t do this then you may find that you end up missing out on experiences and that you are never able to turn clicks into customers. One way for you to fix this would be for you to go through each website page and then try and identify what you want your visitors to do when they land on it. This can differ depending on the intent of each page. If someone is reading a blog article then the action you may want them to take will probably differ, from someone who is looking at a product page. At the end of the day, your calls to action have to align with the general goals of your business. If they don’t then this can make things way harder for you in the future.
Poor Website Design
Having a great website design is so important. It is also one of the many reasons why most websites fail. Sure, the design of your website is somewhat subjective but at the end of the day, there are some do’s and don’ts here. Your website should be easy to navigate and it should also have a clearly-written CTA. Having content that is both short and punchy is also important. If you do have images on your site, then make sure that they are optimized. If you are having a bit of an issue here then do your research. Develop a strong and personal brand and then stick with it. With this in mind, you also need to give some serious thought to your competitors. What does their style look like? What is their site achieving?
Broken Links
A broken link refers to a link that takes your users to a website page that cannot be found. This often shows up as an error. This has a huge, detrimental effect on your site and it also makes it look very unprofessional. There are several causes of broken links, whether it is human error, CMS updates or even URL changes. Keeping on top of your links and taking the time to update them where possible will ensure that your site runs as smoothly as possible. Using a 301 redirect on the old URL is a great way for you to communicate the new page to your search engines. This can mean that your old links are then sent to your new address. Working with a talented and qualified website agency is the best way for you to monitor your links and make sure that any issues are resolved in the shortest possible time. This is the best way to keep your site working optimally.