Websites fail to attract and convert visitors for a number of reasons, but there are solutions. A lot of business owners who are just starting out mistakenly believe that their website will instantly draw clients who are ready and willing to buy their offerings. However, you have to help visitors find your products or services and ensure a pleasant experience.
Here are seven main reasons websites fail and how to resolve the issues.
1. Bad design
Bad website design is a major reason for failure. The website’s design should match your branding and message, be visually appealing yet informative, and contain a clear call to action, like “sign up now.”
If your website looks outdated and is misaligned with your brand, customers will think your services or products are outdated as well.
Solution
You don’t need a fully animated site or follow any other design trend. Your only concern is whether the site connects with your target audience. Have a look at competitors’ websites and see what you can do better.
2. Mobile-Unoptimized
For many years now, more people have been viewing sites on their mobile devices than on computers. If your website is not mobile-responsive, you need to change that ASAP. A website that’s not optimized for mobile devices looks dated, broken, and small. People aren’t keen on resizing pages, trying to tap links, or searching for the menu. It’s unpleasant and frustrating.
Solution
If you’re developing a new website, make sure it’s mobile-optimized and opens on different screen sizes.
3. The Wrong Hosting Provider
A slow website is a definite failure. Visitors will get frustrated and navigate away. You only have two seconds to attract people’s attention. Page loading time is a top priority.
Reasons for a slow site are unconfigured browser cache, unoptimized images, uncompressed files, and a slow server.
Solution
If you have most or all of these issues, your hosting provider could be to blame. Upgrading to a better plan or switching your host can solve them. Here are some tips on choosing the best website hosting for your needs.
4. Failing To Promote Your Site
Ineffective or nonexistent digital marketing is one of the main reasons sites fail. You need to drive traffic to your site once it’s gone live. You can achieve this through the following marketing channels:
- Social media
- Organic visitors from Google
- Paid social advertising
- Email campaigns
- Pay-Per-Click advertising
Your site will never reach its full potential if you’re not actively marketing it. If it’s marketed properly, it can do wonders for your business, especially in terms of increasing sales.
Solution
Identify your target group and find the best strategy for your business. Organic searches from Google are always a robust strategy because this traffic is free, and it’s where your customers start their purchasing process.
5. Unoptimized For Search Engines
If people can’t find your site, you won’t get any visitors. A site with a clear CTA and a good design that’s mobile-friendly will have no problem converting visitors, especially if it ranks above competitor sites in Google.
Solution
You need to invest in SEO if you want to rank higher than your competitors. An SEO expert can be beneficial. If you can’t afford one, you need to know some basic SEO practices, like how to use keywords and what keywords to use.
6. Broken Pages And Links
Common causes of broken pages and links are moving pages, CMS updates, or plain human error.
Solution
You can fix links within the content by changing the URL. Create a 301 redirect if pages are moved or unpublished.
7. Missing CTA
Calls to action can be a phone number in bold, a button linking to a form, or a large image with text. People won’t know what to do if there isn’t a clear call to action.
Solution
Establish what you want potential customers to do and add it to each page. Focus on a single CTA per page to increase conversions and limit visitors’ options.
