Don’t Let These Website Mistakes Hurt Your Business

Don't Let These Website Mistakes Hurt Your Business

Don't Let These Website Mistakes Hurt Your Business. Never underestimate the power of your business website! Not only is this the place where your customers can contact you but it's also your company's biggest marketing asset. If your website is good-looking, clear, and functional, your chances of business success will be improved.

Unfortunately, many businesses make mistakes with their websites and we take a look at some of these below. If you can relate to any of the negatives that we mention, now is the time to remedy any errors you may have already made with your website.

Mistake #1: Out-of-date information

You're a busy person! Running a business is not easy so you can be forgiven if you don't always have the time to make changes to your website.

However, we aren't simply talking about a new color scheme or a change of font for your blog posts. We are talking about vital information that needs to be kept up-to-date to ensure your customers aren't left scratching their heads when they visit your site pages.

You need to make sure your contact information is up-to-date, for example, so if you have moved business premises or changed your contact details for another reason, be sure to update this info accordingly.

You also need to make sure the information about your products or services is correct, including the prices that you charge. If you have scrapped a particular product line, altered a service, or reduced your prices (or made any other change to your product or service range) make sure your customers are clear about these changes on your website.

Mistake #2: No live chat option

Your website doesn't necessarily need a live chat option but without it, your business might fall behind your nearest competitors. Why?

Well, your site visitors might get impatient if they can't get the information they need from your business if you aren't contactable immediately. This might cause them to turn to one of your competitors if they can get what they need elsewhere.

As such, you should consider installing software that provides online chats for websites. With the right tools installed, your site visitors will be able to interact with your business when you're not around, be that with chatbots or your customer care agents.

Mistake #3: Not optimized for mobile devices

Your website might look impressive on a laptop or desktop computer but if it hasn't been optimized for mobile devices, you are hardly likely to make your business more profitable if your customers use their phones and tablets to access your site.

If your website isn't optimized for mobile devices, pages won't open correctly, visitors will have a hard time clicking through content, and your site will rank lower on search engine pages. The upshot of this? Your business will suffer as your potential customers will likely use the services of a competitor that has optimized their websites for mobiles.

As most people use their smart devices to access the internet, now is the time to remedy this mistake if you haven't taken steps to make your website mobile-friendly. There is information on how to do this at Search Engine Journal but if you find it all a bit confusing, you might want to hire a specialist web designer to make the appropriate site changes for you.

Mistake #4: Not giving your visitors a reason to stick around

The more site visitors connect with your website, the better your ranking on search engines will be. There is also a greater chance of you making more sales if your visitors spend more time browsing your pages, especially if you create content that points them toward your products or services.

To keep visitors on your site, add extra content in the form of explainer videos for your products or services, and blog posts that the people visiting your site will find useful. If you have a live chat option, your visitors might also be encouraged to stay if they take the opportunity to ask questions that relate to your business.

Mistake #5: Navigation issues

If people can't get around your website easily, they aren't likely to stick around for very long. It might be that they can't find click-on-links to open other website pages, for example, or a search option that enables them to find exactly what it is they are looking for.

Make sure you have menu tabs and a search option and once placed on your website, ensure they are easy to find. Your website isn't supposed to be a maze where your visitors have fun getting lost! It's a marketing tool that is supposed to encourage your guests to buy from you – and they won't be able to do that if they don't know where they should be going.

Mistake #6: Terrible images

Your website will have greater visual appeal if there are photos on your site pages, so you should add a select few on each page. However, they do need to be of high quality. If your photos are low-resolution, blurry, or stock images that can be found on thousands of other sites, then your guests will be turned off by what they see on your website.

Your images should also be relevant to your business and what you are selling. If you add images that are irrelevant, they will confuse your visitors as they might cause them to think they have stumbled upon a business that doesn't relate to their needs.

So, don't let your website down with shoddy or irrelevant images. Hire a professional to take photos for your site or follow these tips on taking quality product photos.

Mistake #7: Ignoring SEO

We have already mentioned the importance of optimizing your website for mobile as that will help you rank higher on search engines.

However, there is more to SEO than making sure people can flick through your website pages on their phones. To make sure your website shows up at the top of search engine pages instead of languishing near the bottom, you should also place appropriate keywords (the words people will be using to find businesses like yours) within your site's content.

You should also improve your site's authority and credibility with outbound links and use descriptive inbound links that make sense to users navigating your site's pages.

There is much more you can do as we are only scratching the surface here. Read this article on improving SEO rankings and seek professional help from web designers and marketing agencies if you need advice and support.

Mistake #8: Typos and grammatical errors

Spelling and grammatical mistakes might not seem all that important but if your web pages are littered with them, your site visitors will become frustrated after a while. They might start to lose trust in your business too as they will doubt the professionalism of your business if they spot errors on a far-too-regular basis.

Before you hit the 'publish' button for any of your site's content, give it several read-throughs to check for any mistakes. It's also a good idea to use Grammarly or any similar tool that can pick up any errors in the text that you or somebody else has written.

Mistake #9: Auto-playing videos

Don't Let These Website Mistakes Hurt Your Business with Auto Play. If the volume on their devices is set to high, your site visitors are likely to spill their cups of coffee if they open a web page and a video starts playing almost instantly!

The same applies if there is background music automatically applied to particular pages.

While it's a good idea to use videos on your website, your customers should be given the right to choose whether they watch (and listen) to them or not. The same is true of any additional music or voice chatter you decide to apply to your site.

So, if you do have videos or music tracks on your site, include user controls so your guests can turn them on and off. If you don't, they might get frustrated by your website and leave. They might even hit you with their dry cleaning bill if they do end up spilling their drinks all over themselves!

Mistake #10: No blog page

Does your business website need a blog page? Yes!

With blog posts that are rich in SEO-friendly keywords, you stand a better chance of driving traffic to your website. As mentioned earlier, you will also give your guests a reason to stay on your site for longer.

Your blog posts can also increase conversions as you have the opportunity to create articles that explain and link back to your products and services. Check out these other benefits of business blogging.

So, don't underestimate the power of a blog. You don't have to write every blog post yourself as you can hire freelance writers who will create appropriate content for you.

Mistake #11: Not Protecting Your Customer Data

Any online business will accumulate a wealth of customer data, whether that’s through blog subscribers, email newsletter signups, or e-commerce purchases. It is not only ethical to collect and store this information properly, it is a legal requirement. Yet many small businesses are either unaware or uninterested in following data protection regulations. GDPR rules are often changing, so make sure you do your research to ensure you are acting above board at all times. Your website must give users options to refuse consent for Google tag manager cookies, opt-out of data collection, and protect themselves in a variety of other ways. This will build their trust in your brand, and increase your customer loyalty retention as a result.