As many of us know, websites are often the first place customers look when making a purchase. But, it is no good having a website only for it to the site there and gather dust. Your website should be considered an ongoing project that changes and develops as your business grows. If you fail to keep it fresh, then it is bound to become stale.
Below are my 6 simple ways that your website could be driving customers away and how you can combat this problem.
Confusing layout & design
Keep it simple.
You don’t want your website to be a treasure hunt where your visitor has to look around for hints and clues as to where they can find the information that they want. Show them exactly where (you want them) to go and give them a number of easy routes to get there.
Don’t let your website be a treasure hunt. Your customers don’t want to have to be looking around for clues and hints as to where your about, service or contact pages are! Show them exactly where (you want them) to go and give them multiple options to get there.
Keep your branding in mind with your website. If you’ve just had your logo redesigned or had your brand colours or slogan changed, then update your website to match these changes. Your website is part of your brand image and has to be easily recognisable!
Not enough quality content
Consumers are always searching online looking to have their questions answered and make a buying decision. If your website lacks a blog, content, product demos/information on services, client testimonials, etc you can kiss those lovely customers goodbye. Being helpful is crucial in gaining a website visitor’s trust and, hopefully, their business.
You need to include internal links to other pages, as well as having a good external link building strategy (other websites that link to you). You can find out more about SEO and how we can help with this here. If your site only promotes your company and doesn’t have content to educate your visitors on how you can help them, they will move to an organisation that is more dedicated to solving their problems.
No Call To Actions (CTAs)
Your target audience doesn’t necessarily know what a call-to-action is, or even what it looks like. But, they will always subconsciously be looking for where they should go to next. It’s the CTA’s job to do this. Don’t leave your potential leads guessing, help guide them through your website with smart and topical CTA’s.
If you’re an online retailer then guide them to your shop, right through to the checkout… not your contact page! If you’re selling an online course, then guide them to where they can subscribe to the course. If you’re a service-based company, guide them to your contact page via your services page. To put it simply, you don’t want them to just visit your website and leave – take your visitor on a journey they want to be a part of.
It’s not mobile responsive
This is something you really should have done by now! If you haven’t, then check out our blog post here, on the benefits of responsive (mobile friendly) websites. If a website is responsive, it means your content will resize to fit any screen, providing your customers with a unified experience on whichever device they use.
It’s a well-known fact that websites that are optimised for mobile devices, perform much better than websites that aren’t responsive. Google also prefers websites optimised for mobile, so having a mobile-friendly website, will benefit you in the Search Engine Result Page (SERP) rankings.
No testimonials
Testimonials are a huge part of customer retention. After all, you can publish anything you like within your website’s content, but having a customer or client backing up what you are saying is great! Testimonials give you great credibility and kudos, showing that you not only have customers, but they like you as well!
Be proud and loud with the good words about you. Feature them on the homepage of your website, as well as give them a dedicated page you can point people to.
No social media links
If your leads can’t see that you’re active on social media and that your site doesn’t link to these channels, they will make the assumption that you’re behind the times. Social media is a staple for modern businesses and actively opting out can be disastrous to your online image. Customers expect businesses to be on social media as it’s a sign of a reputable company with nothing to hide.
You can use your social media content to your advantage on your website too – you could embed Facebook or Google reviews as testimonials or perhaps add an Instagram feed as your portfolio.
These tips can really help boost your visitor engagement and lower the bounce rate of your website, along with creating a higher volume of quality leads for your business. Follow our tips above to keep your customers coming back for more.
