Is your website good enough?
Ask yourself, and be honest.
Is your website…
- Good enough to hit Google’s front page (and bring a ton of visitors)?
- Good enough to get those visitors interested in what you’re selling?
- Good enough to convince a visitor to whip out their credit card and buy?
Maybe, maybe not.
Because at the heart of the issue is a simple truth…
It’s never been easier to get a website these days.
Whether you paid your neighbors kid a few hundred bucks to knock a site together…
Drank 14 cups of coffee and smashed it yourself over a weekend with a free builder…
Or even went the agency route and dropped some serious coin to get it developed…
You’ve got a website.
But is it working? Is it making you money?
I’ve broken down plenty of websites since starting Studio Digita, some surprisingly good, others, well, not so much.
And that’s an issue…
Because too many business owners are making the same mistakes with their websites.
Mistakes that turn traffic away, fail to excite a potential customer, and ultimately, put a limit on the profits they can make from their website.
Now… I’m assuming you’ve already got some form of a website.
If not, getting one built needs to be your first priority.
Not just as a central hub for your business’s online presence, but to ensure you regain control. Unlike a Facebook Page or a LinkedIn Profile that could disappear overnight (with a simple terms of service change), a website gives you complete control.
It’s the beating heart of your online presence, tying your whole online strategy together.
You need a website for your business.
But it also needs to work…
If you’re serious about succeeding online, pay attention.
You cannot afford to be making any of these profit-killing mistakes on your website.
**Plus, I’ll even share the actions you can take to start improving on each of these (today) and boost the conversions on your site.
Right. Here’s the mistakes to avoid…
You haven’t touched your website since 1995
If this is you, first up, let me just say congrats.
Congrats on getting ahead of the pack 25+ years ago…
But that’s just it, a website built in 1995 is old tech.
Heck, even one built a couple of years ago isn’t going to be operating in the same space as what’s getting developed today.
Design trends are always changing…
And while certain looks are timeless, you can bet your customers will certainly notice.
Not to mention the technology you’re missing out out.
Integrations to better automate, enhance the customer experience and provide innovative solutions like chatbots and personalization have improved astronomically.
And that’s before we even bring up the bad guys, always searching for vulnerabilities in your website to hack your data, inject their malicious code, and piggyback on your servers.
ACTION: It’s time to give your website an update. Call a developer and get the backend up-to-date. Call a website agency to get a quote on a fresh new look. Or jump right in and do it yourself. But whatever you do, don’t put it off and continue leaving money on the table.
You haven’t posted anything for 2-3 (or more) years
Tell me if you’ve heard this before…
“Content is King”
It’s a common phrase in digital marketing, and for good reason…
The best performing websites (whether through their high search engine ranks, conversion rates, and customer experience) all focus on content.
Your customers want to know what’s going on, with you, and with your business.
- They want to learn about the new and innovative products you’re launching.
- They want to discover the latest trends and see what’s happening in your industry.
- They want to get to know the people in your business, and what you care about.
If the last time you updated anything was back in 2012, this does two things.
Shows you don’t care about serving the needs of the visitors to your website.
Shows you don’t have anything interesting to say, or any expertise to share.
Heck, some people may even think you’ve gone out of business.
ACTION: Put together an easy content calendar. Get a marketing intern on it, hire an agency who can simply run with it, and start creating a variety of different content (written posts, videos, podcasts and even infographics). You should share one new post, every month.
You don’t have a clear call to action
Probably the most important element to get right in your website is the call to action.
Because the whole reason your website exists, is to get a visitor to do a certain thing.
- Perhaps it’s to schedule an appointment with one of your consultants.
- Perhaps it’s to buy one of the products you’ve listed for sale.
- Perhaps it’s to simply push for a subscription to your email list.
Whatever it is, you need to make it clear to a visitor what you want them to do.
If it’s not immediately obvious, you’re going to lose potential customers.
Your leads are going to get lost, and do something else.
Which is a problem, especially if you’re paying for ads to send traffic to your website.
ACTION: Make sure it’s immediately obvious what you want a customer to do when they land on your website. And take it a step further, look at any elements on your site that distract from this ultimate goal, and remove them. If you like, we can take a look and let you know how we’d tackle this on your website specifically in a free strategy session.
Claim YOUR FREE Report Before You Miss Out
(REVEALED: 7 Secrets to Turn Traffic into Cash)
You’re only focused on “you, you, you”
Your customers are only focused on one person.
Can you guess who it is?
Yep, it’s themselves.
Customers are on your website because they believe you have a solution to their problems.
They believe you’ve got a product or a service, that could help them.
They believe you’re going to make their life easier, improve it in some way.
And to be honest, that’s all they really care about.
Your website needs to cater to this particular nuance, using your sales copy to demonstrate and reassure that you’ve got their best interests at heart.
Take a look at these two sentences…
“I have 15 years’ experience teaching sales techniques, and have worked with many companies to improve their internal sales processes using my proprietary training system.”
Or…
“Building on 15 years in your industry, together we’ll get your sales team operating like a well-oiled machine, boosting your bottom line with an easy-to-implement yet highly effective training system.
Which speaks better to you?
The second one, right?
ACTION: Take a look at your website, and be honest with me here. Are you speaking to your customers, and tapping into what they actually want, or is your website all about you? Rework your copy and ensure your site is serving the needs of your customers.
Your website offers a terrible user experience
Or in more simple terms, it’s not easy to use or understand your website.
Part of this is having a clear call to action, but there’s also more to it.
Now, I could talk for days on the user experience (there’s a whole school of thought on how to improve it, countless books and a thousand different things to test and tweak), but in terms of hard-hitting effectiveness, there’s four parts of this you need to work on.
- Your website needs to load in under 2 seconds.
- Your website needs to be mobile responsive (i.e. usable on a smartphone)
- Your website needs to lead a prospect on a path to the ultimate call to action
- Your website needs to follow industry design rules and trends
Want to get some rapid feedback on your user experience? Get a friend to jump onto your site and do a quick review. What’s immediately obvious to you (the business owner), is often not quite as clear to someone who has never visited your website before.
Or if you like we can also take a look, and give you some actionable feedback.
ACTION: Solve each of the four critical elements and ensure your website is well designed, leads a prospect to make a purchase, works on a mobile phone and loads fast. These are the foundation for a good customer experience, and it’s imperative you’re doing it right.
You’ve got no contact details anywhere
You’d be surprised at how many websites get this wrong, or bury their contact details far too deep on “contact us” pages, using forms your customers hate to use.
Don’t do this.
Remember, your goal is to make it as easy as possible to get a customer to buy.
And there will be potential buyers who have questions, who want to speak to a real person, or have their fears cleared up before they can commit to a purchase.
So, make it as easy as possible to reach you, on their preferred channel of communication.
Some people want to call, then and there, so put your business number on every page.
Some people want to chat, right on your site, so include a chat-bot or message function.
Some people want to email, so it’s important you’ve got your details listed too.
Think about your current customers.
How do they reach out to you right now?
Is it a call, an email, an instant message, or something else?
List them all out.
ACTION: Based on the channels your customers are currently using to get in touch with you, add these particular details to your website. Perhaps it’s a Skype click-to-call button, or a particular instant messenger like WhatsApp you can integrate to provide potential customers with a higher level of support. That way, they can always reach you.
Next steps…
If you really want to boost the profitability of your website, set some time aside this afternoon and go through each of the action points above.
You may think they’re obvious, too simple or maybe even that you don’t need to worry about these, but I caution you…
We see these problems every day, and once they’re fixed, conversion rates go up.
It’s as simple as that.
If you want to gain an edge on your competition and bring in more new customers, you cannot make these mistakes. Some are simple fixes, others require specialist skills or time where you can think and plan strategically. You may even want to reach out to us for some free advice and our recommendations.
Please do, because once you’ve got your website in order, you will make more money. And that’s critical when building a successful online business.
Want FREE and EXPERT advice?
(You better hurry… spots this month are almost gone!)