People ask me all the time, what should I change on my website? Because of this, I have compiled what I believe to be the ten biggest blunders your website is currently making.
1. Lack of Social Media strategy.
You may not realize this but your website and social media should go hand in hand. With a weak social media strategy, you are bound to be missing out on thousands of potential customers. Not only is Social Media the single best tool for communicating directly with your consumers, but it’s also a huge factor when it comes to your search ranking. If you aren’t utilizing ALL of the social media tools out there, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity for your business.
2. Divorcing your Social Media from your Website.
Let’s say that you do have a Social Media strategy. You need to make sure it’s working hand in hand with your website. Like any good marriage, there has to be compromise. That give-and-take also applies to your website. Communication is key in marriage and if your Social Media isn’t speaking to your Website, they cannot have a solid marriage. Your Social Media should encourage your users to view your website. Your website should allow your users to interact with you on Social Media. It’s the back-and-forth that is the key to a beautiful relationship.
3. You’re not blogging enough.
I speak often about the importance of blogging and will continue to. I cannot stress enough just how important this is to having a modern and engaging website. Users on average spend 6 seconds on a website before they click on to the next website. In order to engage your users and keep them there longer, it’s imperative to offer them interesting content that they will keep coming back for. In fact, with a solid blog and regular updates, you will have viewers coming to your site just for that free information. It’s there that you can convert those viewers into customers.
4. Your SEO is lackluster.
One of the most beneficial services you can utilize on your site is Search Engine Optimization or SEO. It is preparing your site so it is easily found by Google, Bing, and other search engines. Without an effective SEO strategy, you will be losing potential customers to your competition. SEO is a fine art and if your site has not been optimized, it will be very difficult to outrank the competition. It’s the first step in creating a good website. The next step is Conversion Optimization.
5. You aren’t selling yourself enough.
If you aren’t converting your viewers into customers, you’re missing the entire point of having a website. Your site is Search Engine Optimized, you’re getting a ton of viewers on the site, but no extra customers! The problem could be a lack of Conversion Optimization zucbgc4. You need to optimize your site into a machine to convert those viewers into customers. There are hundreds of tips and tricks that uphold your sites integrity while going in for the sale.
6. Your site isn’t mobile friendly.
With the ever-advancing world of smartphones and tablets, your site needs to be Responsive. Responsive websites can be viewed on any device. There are some older websites that still cannot be viewed on a smartphone. Today, over 50% of your website viewers will be looking you up on their phones. They may never even see your website in desktop view. If they are unable to view your website, you have already lost a customer. Beyond that, Google now takes that into consideration when ranking you. It is more important than ever to be mobile-friendly.
7. Your website structure is confusing.
Let’s say you’ve just grabbed your viewer’s attention. Great! Now what? You need to then direct the customer throughout your site in a way that is logical. Through navigation upgrades, we can guide new users to the information they are looking for. Finding that information is the difference between converting them into a customer and losing them to your competition. While it may seem logical to you, guests have never experienced your site before. They need buttons and a navigation system that just makes sense.
8. There’s too much stuff!
Sometimes less is, in fact, more! We always encourage people to have a lot of content on their site, but that doesn’t always mean it will engage customers. Sometimes if you have ‘walls of text’, it might be boring and overwhelming to customers. You have to engage your customers and in order to do that you have to keep them entertained. Breaking up text into sections with easy-to-follow titles and imagery can make all the difference. A good rule of thumb is Organizing instead of Overwhelming. Going hand-in-hand with #7, it’s always a good idea to organize your content in an interesting way rather than bombarding your viewers.
9. You’re not utilizing Google’s tools.
Google loves when you play by their rules. They love it even more when you utilize all of their products. Google offers a host of tools for websites to maximize advertising, viewers and conversions. The more you play by Google’s rules, the higher you rank. So it stands to reason, the more Google products you implement on your site, the higher you will rank. At Lafayette Louisiana Website Design we are all Google certified and can easily optimize your website with Google standards.
10. You’re not marketing to the right customer.
Who is your customer? It’s a very important question to ask and the first question we keep in mind before building your website. You are looking for new CUSTOMERS not just new viewers. It’s important that we market to the people who are looking to buy, not just browse. You could have a beautiful website that follows all the rules and gets a ton of views, but if those views don’t become customers it was all for not. That’s where we come in. We will help you focus your marketing strategy to best appeal to new customers.
If you need help with these or any other website issues, give us a call! We are all Google Certified and have helped countless businesses reach their goals ahead of schedule! You can reach us during the day at (337) 223-3305 or shoot us an email at lafayettelawebsite@gmail.com.
