As a Showit website designer, I’ve seen my share of website mistakes from all sides. Some are obvious just by a quick scroll through a home page, others are hidden on the backend of a website builder (which often cause the biggest problems).
Unfortunately, many of these mistakes are extremely common, and most business owners don’t even realize they’re making them. They just know something isn’t quite right.
My website should be helping my business, right? Then why doesn’t it feel like it?
If you’ve thought this before, you’re not alone. If you know your website isn’t working for you like it should, you could be making one (or more) of these 4 website mistakes. The good news is, they can all be fixed. Some faster than you might think! So, let’s get into it.
A beautiful website is absolutely important, but if it doesn’t clearly communicate why someone should book you over the competition, it’s not doing its job.
If visitors leave without understanding what you do and why it matters to them, that’s a problem.
SOLUTION: Speak directly to your client’s needs and desires. Let them know you understand their struggles and needs, and give them the information they’re really looking for.
Instead of using fluffy, overused, cliche phrases, write website copy that makes them say, “This is exactly what I need!” (Or better yet, hire a professional copywriter to write it for you).
Maybe your content is solid, but it’s buried in long blocks of text, tough-to-read fonts, or an outdated design. If your site is hard to navigate (or just plain hard to look at), visitors won’t stick around long enough to read it.
SOLUTION: Consider working with a professional designer if your website or branding is outdated. Break up your paragraphs with different heading styles, layouts, and photos. Always choose easy-to-read fonts in a high-contrast color, and use plenty of negative space so things aren’t crowded together.
A clunky, overwhelming, or slow website is an easy way to lose potential clients. If visitors are faced with a confusing navigation menu, or have to think too hard about where to go next, they won’t bother. And if your images take ages to load, they’ll exit your site before they even get to see what you offer.
SOLUTION: Improve your user experience. Keep your top navigation menu simple and essential, and use easy-to-understand titles so they know exactly what to expect when they click. And make sure every page ends with a clear call-to-action button, so visitors always have a next step.
Also be sure to reduce image and video sizes before uploading them to your website builder to improve your site’s load speed (Red Ketchup is a great free tool for this!).
If your site isn’t properly optimized, it won’t rank well on search engines like Google. Things like broken links or poor setup on the backend of your site prevents search engines from indexing your site properly, which means it’s less likely to show up in search results.
Missing metadata (like page descriptions and image names), or a lack of strategic keywords could also prevent Google from understanding your business, making your site virtually invisible to the people searching for what you offer.
SOLUTION: Improve your SEO. This doesn’t have to be as difficult as it sounds! Start by running a broken link checker and clean up anything that’s not working. Research relevant keywords and add them naturally to page titles, headings, meta descriptions, etc. (Pro Tip: Stick to one H1 tag per page!)
Creating valuable blog content can also help boost rankings over time, and give you a chance to use a lot more relevant keywords.
Keep in mind, there are several factors that go into quality SEO. If you’re really looking to go all-in and improve your rankings long-term, I recommend working with an SEO expert!
Every business and website is different, and there are countless other factors that could be at play.
But if you’re feeling a little disappointed in your website’s performance, check to see if it’s guilty of one of these 4 website mistakes. They’re a great place to start!
If you need more guidance, partner with a designer who combines aesthetics and strategy, to create a stunning website that works as hard as you do.
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