7 Reasons Your Website Is Failing
Is your website failing to get results? Maybe you don’t get any business from it, or even worse, no one is finding it at all. If this sounds like your website, then this is the blog for you.
Many business owners believe that just having a website will bring in new customers. However, having a website and hoping customers will stumble across it is not enough.
You need to ensure your customers can find it and that when they do, they are having a good experience. Nothing will put off a potential customer faster than a poorly designed website that is slow and difficult to navigate.
We’ve put together a list of the most common reasons why websites fail. If you’re seeing these issues reflected on your own website don’t worry, we also explain how you can fix them!
1. Not mobile-friendly
As of February 2022, 57.38% of all web traffic came through mobile phones. Why is that important?
If your website does not function as it should on mobile devices, you could be losing that 57% before they even start reading your content. In other words, you could be cutting your website leads in half.
Websites that aren’t mobile-friendly appear broken, outdated and create a poor impression of your brand. Potential customers won’t waste time trying to navigate a website that isn’t mobile-friendly and they’re unlikely to return to it via desktop. Instead, they’ll click off and visit a competitor’s website that gives them a good experience.
How do I fix it?
The first step you need to take is visiting your own website whilst on your mobile device. Click through each page, test buttons, make sure you can see the pictures and that nothing is obstructed from view. If you notice any problems, screenshot them.
If you use a website design agency to manage your website, send them your list and they’ll do it for you. (Although, any website design agency worth its salt should have optimised your website for mobile use already.)
If you manage your own website, you can work through this list yourself. If you can’t because you’re finding your current platform difficult to use, switch to a platform like Pagio Website Builder (we offer a free service to move your website). You can edit and view how the changes look on mobile devices before you save them.
2. Slow loading website
A website that loads slowly is guaranteed to frustrate visitors to your website and cause them to click away. Statistics show that 40% of people will abandon a website that takes more than three seconds to load, proving that you have just seconds to capture a visitor’s attention when they land on your site. If all they can see is buffering symbols and partially loaded pages, they’re going to visit a competitor’s website instead, especially on mobile devices.
How do I fix it?
Run a speed test on a site such as Pingdom which will identify any issues relating to website loading times. You can then work through the suggestions to improve your website’s loading speed. We’ve listed the main reasons why websites run slowly and how to fix them below:
- Images are not optimised – make sure your images aren’t too big, if they are use a programme like Photoshop or an online tool like https://compressjpeg.com/ to make them smaller.
- Hosted on a slow or shared server – shared hosting can make your website load slowly so get your own hosting. At Pagio Website Builder, we use AWS so all our websites load quickly.
- Website platform/multiple plug-ins – if a website has lots of plugins or is built on a clunky platform this will cause it to load slowly. You can either move to a different platform or remove as many unnecessary plugins as you can.
3. Not SEO optimised
Optimising your website for search engines like Google is vital. You can have the most attractive, well-designed website that has ever graced the internet, but if your website is impossible to find it won’t do your business much good.
How do I fix it?
If you want to rank higher than your competitors on search engines you need to work on your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), for the keywords you want to target. Ensure that all basic SEO best practices are in place and don’t forget that SEO is something that you need to review regularly.
To help you get to grips with SEO and start implementing actions that will improve your search engine rankings, why not check out these blogs:
You can also use a website such as Hike SEO that will analyse your website and provide you with actions, recommendations, and tutorials on how to resolve the issues Hike has flagged up.
4. Poor website design
A badly designed website is one of the biggest reasons why websites fail. Whilst we admit that what people find attractive is subjective, your website should match your branding, be easy to navigate, have a clear call to action, and not be cluttered or difficult to read. Avoid neon colours, hard-to-read fonts and blurry pictures.
How do I fix it?
If you think your website is guilty of being poorly designed, you can talk to a website design agency about redesigning it. Think about who your target audience is and what would appeal to them as well as look at competitors’ websites to see what they do well and see what ideas you can take.
If having a website design agency redo your website isn’t within your budget, you can always redesign your website yourself. If your current website platform is difficult for you to update and manage, switch to a platform like Pagio Website Builder. Our drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to update your website, you can preview your changes live and we offer free migrations from other platforms.
5. No call to action (CTA)
Your website should prompt visitors to do something, whether that’s buying a product or service, calling you, filling in a contact form or something else. If your website doesn’t have a clear call to action, it can leave your customers confused about what they need to do next. This will lead them to click off your site and find a competitor who clearly lays out the customer journey.
How do I fix it?
Before you write your call to action you need to think about your business goals, who your customers are, and how you want them to interact with you. Once you have decided on this you can then write your call to action.
Focus on one call to action per page to ensure that your message is clear.
If you need some help or inspiration for writing your call to action, take a look at our blog What Call To Action Should You Use On Your Website for a more in-depth breakdown.
6. Broken links
A broken link is when a customer clicks on a link either on or leading to your website and lands on a 404 error page.
Broken links make your site look unprofessional and poorly maintained. It can be frustrating for customers, especially when they’re seeking specific information. Not having instant access to the information they wanted will cause you to lose business as they’re unlikely to search the rest of your website for it.
Common causes for broken links and pages are human error, URL changes and CMS updates. Fortunately, a broken link is easy to fix.
How do I fix it?
You can use a 301 redirect on the old URL place to communicate the new page address to search engines. This will ensure that old links forward through to your website. At Pagio Website Builder, we automatically inform you of any broken links on your website so you can get them fixed quickly using our built-in redirect tool.
7. Not promoting your website
Last but certainly not least, websites often fail because they aren’t promoted. Thousands of new sites are added to the internet every day so knowing how to promote a new website and drive traffic is crucial to its success. Your website can only work for you if people are finding it.
How do I fix it?
You can promote your website in a variety of ways, including:
- Improving your SEO strategy to get more visitors
- Social media
- Paid social advertising (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube)
- Pay-Per-Click advertising (Google Ads)
- Email campaigns
If you’re not working to improve your marketing strategy and promote your website, your business is not going to reach its full potential. For more detailed advice about how to promote your website, take a look at our blog How To Promote Your New Website In 2022.
Final thoughts
If you see your own website reflected in this list, don’t be disheartened. Most are easy fixes that you can action yourself and by simply recognising that your website needs improvement and seeking out solutions, you’re already on the path to success.
You can download a PDF of the above here so you can read this guide again whilst offline.
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