9 Reasons Why Websites Fail & How to Fix it

SEO
Responsive Design
Web Design
Web Development

Many business owners think that having a website will instantly draw a steady stream of new customers, ready to buy their products. However, the reality is that having a website just waiting to be found just isn’t enough and you have to help your potential customers find it.

There are many reasons why websites fail to attract new visitors, enquiries and perform as expected, but it all that can easily be avoided.

Here are the top 9 reasons why websites fail.

 

1. Not Mobile-Friendly

For the first time in October 2016, more people used a mobile device to view a website than a desktop computer. If your website is not mobile-friendly (responsive) then it’s time you updated it if you want to attract more visitors.

Websites not optimised for mobile devices will appear small and possibly look broken. Users are now used to mobile optimised websites and don’t want to spend time resizing pages and accidentally tapping on links, further frustrating them.

 

Solution

If you’re getting a new website built, make sure that it’s going to be mobile-friendly and ready for a variety of screen sizes. A good web design agency will offer this as standard, if they don’t, then you need to shop around.

 

2. Poor Design

Poor website design will not win your business any points when visitors are comparing your products with a competitor’s. The design of your site should match your business message and be pleasing to look at without obstructing the information.

If your website looks out of date, visitors will think that your products are out of date and will favour a different supplier.

 

Solution

You don’t have to follow a design trend but you need to make sure that the design of your website connects with your target audience. Take a look at what your competitors are doing and see how you can do it better and add your own style to it.

 

3. Unqualified Professionals

If your website isn’t built by professionals then you could be getting a bad deal. Cheap websites usually don’t result in the best solution for your business and after a couple of months since going live, you’ll realise your mistake.

Your website should be built with technical SEO from the beginning, which will give your website the best possible start. It can also reduce the amount of work in the future if you want to increase your organic ranking.

 

Solution

You’ll want your overall design to be modern, match your business goals, connect with your audience and have clear call-to-action.

Before you invest in a new website check that the web designer has the relevant experience and good customer testimonials from previous work.

 

4. Not Optimised For Search

Even the most beautifully designed website can fail if it’s not been optimised for search. The buying process begins with a search on Google and if your website can’t be found it’s never going to receive any visitors.

If your website is mobile-friendly and has a good design with clear call-to-action, there should be nothing holding you back from converting your visitors to customers, especially if your website appears before your competitor’s in Google.

 

Solution

To optimise for search you need to check that you’re using a mixture of short and long tail keywords in the correct places and check that your technical SEO is in good shape.

 

5. No Promotion

One of the main reasons why websites fail is due to a lack of promotion. Once your website is live you need to drive visitors (traffic) to it. This can be achieved through the following marketing channels;

  • Organic traffic (unpaid Google Search)
  • Referral links (Links from other websites)
  • Social media
  • Email campaigns
  • Paid advertising

If you’re not actively promoting your website, your business is not going to reach its full potential. A website can work wonders if it’s promoted and it will increase your customer base and sales.

 

Solution

You don’t have to market on all of the channels mentioned above, but you should be active in a couple of them. Organic search should be used as standard along with social media. Depending on your business you might want to pursue email campaigns and paid advertising.

 

6. Slow to Load

A slow loading website is a definite website fail. If your website is too slow to load, it will frustrate visitors, causing them to go elsewhere. You only have 3-4 seconds to grab your visitor’s attention, which makes your page load speed essential.

The following can be the reasons for a slow website;

- Not mobile-friendly

- Browser cache not configured

- Images are not optimised

- Files are not compressed

- Slow server

 

Solution

You need to do a speed test on your website to see its current status and identify the issues. We like to use GT Metrix and Pingdom to identify any loading issues.

 

7. No Call-to-Action

If you have a website you’ll want it to do something. You’ll either want visitors to contact you, fill out a form or buy a product. A call-to-action can be a button linking to a form, bold text, or a large promotional image. Making it clear and obvious will help your visitors complete their goal.

If there isn’t a clear call-to-action your visitors won’t know what you want them to do. Having a clear call-to-action will increase your enquiries and sales.

 

Solution

You need to identify what you want your customer to do and include it on all of your web pages. Focus on one call-to-action per page to limit the choices for visitors and increase your conversions.

 

8. Broken Links & Pages

A broken website is an instant fail. If your visitors can’t access the information they are looking for or your contact form, links and images aren’t working, you’re not going to get any customers.

 

Solution

It’s essential to keep on top of any issues that can create broken pages and links. These can be caused by updates or errors made whilst editing content. If you monitor your website on a regular basis, you will avoid the loss of customers.

 

9. Poor Navigation

Check that you can navigate around your website with ease. The navigation should be uncluttered, simple to use, and clearly identify the key pages. If your website is full of sub-menus and side menus, and dead ends, your visitors can quickly become lost and leave your website.

Mobile navigation should be a top priority. With more people accessing websites via mobile devices it’s essential to have good mobile navigation for large fingers.

 

Solution

Before you commit to a new design, ensure that you know what content you want on your website. Knowing the page content at this stage will make it easier to create a website structure and make the navigation work much better.

 

What Next?

Now that you know the reasons why websites fail, it’s time to turn it around. If your website is failing your business and you want to make a change, we can help you turn it around and increase your visitors and revenue.

Email hello@mechanised.co.uk or call 0161 791 0100 to discuss your web design and marketing options.