Poor website designs are a fantastic way to waste all the time and money you spent generating traffic. Despite most businesses knowing the value and necessity of having a website, many are completely lost when it comes to business website development.
Here are the top 6 web design mistakes businesses make and how to fix them.
Ineffective SEO
SEO is still the largest driver of traffic to websites and the largest driver of revenue. But sprinkling SEO throughout your content without any analysis into consumer behavior will have marginal results. When done properly, SEO not only attracts more traffic to your website, but when you optimize your content marketing with SEO, you have a way more powerful revenue driver.
However, topping the search results and dominating a niche requires more than just a few short tail keywords. You need to broaden your reach and find keywords within sub-niches of your main niche, particularly those that focus on consumer problems or interest. For instance, a keyword like “weight loss” has millions of search engine results every month, but the niche is too hyper-competitive to expect the top spot.
Instead, focus on sub-niches within “weight loss” that targets specific audiences and their problems. It could be “weight loss for mothers”, “weight loss for new moms” “ weight loss for vegetarian women”, etc. The purpose is to optimize your content with keywords found in sub-niches that relate to a specific category of your audience or a problem.
Absence of Testimonials
Testimonials are an excellent way to highlight the benefits of your product without coming off as salesy. In their absence, prospects seldom have the trust or the confidence to make a purchase based on your word alone.
But when your loyal customers share how your product helped resolved a problem, this makes a powerful impression on prospects who are still uncertain about your company. As a result, engaging and genuine reviews provides your brand with more credibility and increased sales.
Outdated Design
Google’s new search engine algorithm purportedly favors mobile-friendly websites over websites that aren’t compatible with smart devices. Thus, responsive websites will rank higher on the SERPs, and those websites that haven't adapted may even drop a few ranking.
Consider that 4 out of 5 consumers use their mobile phone to shop for products. Even without the Google update, a tremendous volume of traffic is coming from mobile; failing to adapt and provide a great mobile-viewing experience will wither your mobile traffic, increase your bounce-rates, and severely limit your profits.
Furthermore, an outdated website design is exposed to serious security vulnerabilities that can make you and your business a victim to cyber attacks, hackers, or malware.
Poor Content Marketing
Content is the best channel to attract, engage, and educate your traffic. But if your content isn’t interesting to your audience nor optimized with SEO, it will fall short of its potential.
Engaging and interesting content not only creates loyal followers, but it also positions your brand as a market authority that serves as a mediator between the research and sales process. In addition, content has the ability to attract leads that convert long after a marketing campaign is over, providing you with a channel that can stay profitable for years.
However, your content has to be interesting and provide value to your readers. It is not a platform to further pitch your product or service, but to leverage yourself as a credible expert and authority within your niche. Therefore, craft content based on relevant keywords that address your audiences' problems, wants, desires, and needs.
Failing to Build a List
Attracting traffic is an expensive and labor-intensive endeavor that in no way guarantees sales. So you want to treat every click to your page as a potential prospect and lead that can be nurtured along the sales cycle. One way to do that is by building a list of subscribers or emails that can be leveraged to keep users engaged, promote products, and build loyalty.
Think of this list as fodder for future email marketing campaigns and an opportunity for upsells and cross-sells. In addition, it allows you to keep contact with your customers and prospects in order to keep active and engaged.
Unclear CTA
A call to action (CTA) is what turns your leads into conversions and is the culmination of all your efforts to drive and engage traffic. Yet 70 percent of small businesses lack a clear CTA.
Your CTAs aren't only vehicles to drive sales, they're also an effective way to increase subscription rates and build an email list. But their design is pertinent to their success at converting leads. Even a few tweaks and minor words changes can have a tremendous impact on conversion rates.
While it's best to build several CTAs, test them, and choose the ones that work the best, at the very least you want your CTA to be clear with a big button users can click on.
At Contensive, our talented team of analysts and website designers can help take your business forward. If you want a design that's optimized for conversions and successfully increases sales, contact us to find out more.
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