Think of your website as the digital storefront to your business – it’s often one of the first (if not the first) experience a visitor will have with your brand. With all the social media platforms available, it is tempting to think you don’t need a website, or that you don’t need to pay too much attention to your website if you do have one. That would be where you are wrong I’m afraid.
Visitors who make it to your website are coming for a very specific reason and you want to ensure that your site answers whatever questions they may have, and they go away convinced that your product or service is exactly right for them. If you got your website design and/or build wrong, you’re potentially leaving thousands of pounds on the table in lost revenue, which I’m pretty sure you can not afford to do.
Ensure your website is actually adding to your bottom line (and not taking away from it) by avoiding these common mistakes business owners make:
1.Not really understanding your target audience
Instead of focusing on just getting a website up quickly, you should really be paying attention to your ICA (intended customer avatar) and what they need. Once you know what your ICA wants, you can make sure your website caters exactly to that. In the language, tone of voice, the actual content, etc.
You’ll also need to keep your target demographic in mind – if they’re an older generation you’ll need to be aware of accessibility factors such as font size and colours. A younger generation, on the other hand, will be more likely to access your website using their phone and so you’ll need to prioritise the mobile user experience.
2.No clear call to action
What do you want your ICA to do once you’ve come to your site? It might seem obvious to you but it may not be as obvious to your site visitors. You need to tell them what the next step is and how they can take it.
Is it to book a discovery call, or complete a booking form for a consultation? Is it actually purchase something – a product or a service? Or is a ‘softer’ sell initially, subscribing to your newsletter or registering on your membership site? Make this super clear and ensure all your copy is written with that end goal in mind, to drive your visitor to take that action.
3.Your design is too busy or complicated
It can be tempting to put everything on your website. Everything, plus the kitchen sink! Unfortunately, that will only end up doing you a massive disservice.
A clunky, complicated website – both in terms of design and the copy/content – will only end up putting off your site visitors. Stats tell us that if within 3 seconds, the visitor can’t tell what your site is about, or how it can benefit them, they will simply leave.
If you’re too close to it to objectively review and edit your site, get a third party that you trust to be honest. You can also do some surveys with your actual audience and get their feedback directly. Read this post for the anatomy of a great homepage, and this post for how to seamlessly conduct user surveys on your website.
4.Stale, out of date content
This is really important from 2 different angles.
Google ranks your site on a number of factors, one of which is how regularly your site’s content is updated. If your content hasn’t been updated frequently, it de-ranks it as it believes the content is unlikely to be as relevant. Which means that your business appears lower and lower in search results, making it unlikely for your ICA to find you, and more likely to go to your competitor instead.
Same from your customer’s point of view, those that make it to your website of course, given your poor rankings as explained above. They may think you are no longer innovative, or keeping ahead of the curve, or worse, they may assume you’re no longer in business (depending on how out of date it is!) Even tiny things like the copyright info in your website footer still showing last year’s date, gives the wrong impression
5.Taking the DIY route, unless you know what you’re doing
It can be tempting to do your website yourself, in an attempt to save money. But if you haven’t got the necessary experience, or the time to do it justice, isn’t that ultimately a disservice to your business and brand?
There’s a LOT of content out there – videos and blogs – that make it seem like building a website is super easy, and it can be. But it does require some expertise to filter through the available information, apply the most appropriate for your business and your specific goals, and create a beautiful website that actually converts.
Remember, first impressions are everything, and consumers are not very forgiving once they’ve discredited your business in their eyes. Don’t allow customers to make assumptions about the quality of your business offering because of a poorly designed website.
And using an agency doesn’t mean you blow your budget on your website, and in fact a good agency should work with you to ensure you quickly get a return on the investment made. But do your research, you won’t believe how many people have come to us to fix or undo a poor website a cheap developer built for them. It doesn’t need to be expensive but if it’s too cheap, it tends to not be good quality.
Have you been trying to
DIY your website?
Have you already spent days, maybe even weeks, on this, but haven’t made any progress? Don’t waste any more time – let our experts build you a gorgeous site that works hard for your business.
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