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This guide breaks down ten of the most common website problems for small businesses and how you can fix them.
Your website is your most important online asset.
It’s the first impression most potential customers have of your brand. It’s where you drive all of your marketing efforts, and it’s where you turn prospects into customers.
So if your website isn’t up to scratch, it can seriously harm your business. And this is only too common, as far too many businesses make common website mistakes that don’t do them any favors.
To help you improve your own website, here are ten of the most common website problems that small businesses fall victim to. Luckily, these website problems are all pretty easy to solve.
- Not Being Able to Easily Update Your Website
- Slow Loading Speeds
- Lacking Quality Content
- Not Optimizing for SEO
- Not Focusing on Conversions
- Lacking Marketing Features
- Poor Visual Design
- Providing a Poor User Journey
- No Social Proof
- Not Monitoring Analytics
1. Not Being Able to Easily Update Your Website
One of the most common website problems businesses face is being unable to easily update their websites.
Far too many small businesses hire a web design agency to build them a website that they don’t understand. This gives the business little control over the website, meaning any changes, updates, or additions must go through the web designer.
Not only is this expensive, but it could also be very limiting.
To make the most of your website, you’ll need to constantly update and refresh it. This should involve adding new landing pages, updating branding elements on your website, updating your business information, adding new marketing features, and more.
The easiest way to do this is to use a user-friendly website builder.
The right website builder puts you in control and lets you update and change your website whenever you need to.
This means your site will still look and perform at a professional level, but you won’t have to rely on a web designer to do it all for you. Not only will this save you time, but it also means your website will constantly stay up-to-date and properly optimized.
This can help you avoid many of the most common website issues.
A good website builder will also ensure your entire website is always mobile-friendly, it ensures your website’s security is always up-to-date, and you can update many websites with it.
2. Slow Loading Speeds
One of the biggest website killers is slow loading speeds. This has a major impact on the user experience of your site. It can also really hurt your search engine optimization (SEO).
It only takes three seconds for a user to bounce from your site if the website offers a poor experience. So, all it takes is an image to load too slowly, and you’ll lose a lot of traffic.
Because search engines take the user experience so seriously, slow page loading speeds will also play a major role in your SEO performance.
The most common culprit of slow loading speeds is using media files (images and videos) that are too large, Simply compressing any images on your site can instantly improve your website performance.
Be sure to monitor your page loading speeds at all times. If any issues arise, be sure to fix them straight away. This is a simple website problem to fix, and it can make a big difference in how much website traffic you generate.
It’s also important that you use a responsive website design for mobile devices. This ensures all elements of your website will load properly for whatever screen it’s being viewed on.
3. Lacking Quality Content
There’s a lot that goes into creating a great website, but your website content is one of the most important elements.
The more content you publish, the more chances you’ll get to attract website traffic, engage your audience, boost your website’s credibility, and achieve greater marketing success.
Content refers to anything on your website designed to attract and engage your audience. This could be blog posts, landing pages, videos, and more. Your website should be full of amazing content to help you stay up to date, keep your website interesting, and continually gain authority.
Great content is important for search engine optimization, as well as general inbound marketing. This is because you can share your website content across many channels. Of course, your content should all be SEO-friendly in order for it to attract organic traffic.
It’s important to continually update your website with fresh content. Letting your website sit without adding to it will help you increase your chances of ranking for new search terms and bring in more traffic.
Just make sure that you publish high-quality marketing content. This means your website content needs to speak to your target audience and address their pain points and interests.
4. Not Optimizing for SEO
While you can always include high-quality copywriting and web design – if this isn’t properly SEO optimized, then it won’t help your website perform well in the search engines.
There’s a lot that goes into SEO, but getting the SEO basics down is actually pretty straightforward. You’ll see far better performance by making a few simple SEO changes and optimizations to your website.
Without this, you might not be able to attract any visitors to your site in the first place.
Some of the most important elements of SEO include:
- Focusing your web pages around relevant keywords
- Including a good internal linking structure
- Focusing on generating backlinks
- Removing broken links or elements that cause site issues
- Offering a mobile-friendly website
- And a lot more…
You can check out our complete guide to small business SEO to help you get started.
While you don’t have to be an SEO expert, keeping things like target keywords in mind when you update and create web pages is always helpful. Otherwise, your web content will just disappear into the depths of the internet.
Consulting with an SEO expert is always the best idea when maintaining your website.
5. Not Focusing on Conversions
When it comes to building a successful website for your business, it’s easy to get caught up in the design, content, and aesthetics. However, one critical aspect that often gets overlooked is the importance of how you convert visitors.
Conversions refer to the desired actions you want your website visitors to take, such as making a purchase, filling out a form, or subscribing to your newsletter.
Without clear conversion goals, your website may end up being nothing more than a beautiful online brochure that fails to generate meaningful results. Identifying your conversion objectives and optimizing your website to increase your conversion rate is crucial.
Conduct a thorough analysis of your website’s user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design. Ensure that your website is easy to navigate, loads quickly, and has clear calls-to-action that guide visitors towards taking the desired actions. Otherwise, you’ll offer a poor user experience.
Use visually appealing and compelling content that clearly communicates the benefits of your products or services.
Another important aspect is to track and measure your website’s performance regularly. Use web analytics tools to gather data on visitor behavior, such as bounce rate, time on site, and conversion rate.
This data can provide valuable insights into areas that need improvement, allowing you to make data-driven decisions and optimize your website accordingly.
Remember, a website that doesn’t convert is a missed opportunity. So, don’t neglect the importance of focusing on conversions when addressing major website problems for your business.
6. Lacking Marketing Features
One of the biggest website problems that businesses often overlook is the lack of essential marketing features.
Your website should work to drive leads and conversions. To make the most out of your website’s functionality, it’s crucial to have key marketing features in place, such as website pop-ups, online forms, and appointment booking calendars.
Popups can be used strategically to capture visitors’ attention and promote special offers, discounts, or lead magnets.
Online forms allow visitors to easily contact you or provide their information for further follow-up.
Appointment booking calendars streamline the process of scheduling appointments or consultations, making it convenient for potential customers to book your services.
Carefully consider the marketing features that align with your business goals and target audience. Choose user-friendly tools or plugins that integrate seamlessly with your website. Or, use a website builder that comes pre-equipped with all of these tools.
Having the right marketing features on your website can greatly enhance your ability to capture leads, engage with visitors, and ultimately drive conversions.
7. Poor Visual Design
When it comes to websites, first impressions matter.
Poor visual design can deter visitors from engaging with your content, leading to higher bounce rates.
To create a website that captures and retains visitors’ attention, it’s essential to prioritize high-quality images and videos and a visually appealing overall website design.
Using high-resolution images and videos significantly enhances the visual appeal of your website. Avoid using low-quality or pixelated visuals, as they can appear unprofessional and diminish the user experience.
Try to invest in professional graphic design services to ensure a polished and visually engaging website. It will certainly be worth it.
Your overall website design should be visually appealing and cohesive, with consistent branding, clear typography, and a clean layout. Consider the use of white space, color schemes, and fonts that align with your brand identity and convey your message effectively.
A visually appealing website can make a significant impact on how users perceive your brand and interact with your content. In fact, consistent branding can increase website conversions by 33%.
8. Providing a Poor User Journey
A confusing user journey can quickly frustrate visitors and result in them leaving your website before converting.
Businesses need to prioritize creating a seamless and easy-to-navigate user journey on their website to ensure a positive user experience and encourage engagement.
To offer a great user journey, it’s important to have a clear website structure with a logical and intuitive navigation menu.
Users should be able to easily find what they’re looking for and navigate through your website with minimal effort. Avoid cluttered or complicated menus that may confuse users or overwhelm them with too many options.
Ensure that your website’s content is organized in a coherent manner, with relevant headings, subheadings, and concise paragraphs.
Use clear and descriptive labels for buttons, forms, and links to guide users through the desired actions. Avoid jargon or technical language that may confuse users, and use visual cues, such as arrows or icons, to help direct their attention.
Conduct regular usability testing to identify any pain points or obstacles in the user journey. Gather feedback from real users and make necessary adjustments to improve the overall user experience.
Consider implementing tools like heatmaps or user flow analysis to gain insights into how users interact with your website and identify any bottlenecks or areas needing improvement.
9. No Social Proof
81% of shoppers research a business online before deciding to make a purchase. This means your website should offer the kind of social proof potential customers are looking for.
Businesses need to recognize the importance of including social proof elements, such as reviews and testimonials, on their website to establish trust and encourage potential customers to take action.
Including genuine customer reviews and testimonials on your website can provide social validation for your products or services.
Positive reviews from satisfied customers can help to reassure potential customers that they are making a wise decision in choosing your business. Displaying social proof elements prominently on your website, such as on the homepage or product/service pages, can capture visitors’ attention and increase their confidence in your offerings.
Incorporating social proof elements into your website can significantly impact building trust with potential customers and increasing conversion rates. By leveraging the power of social proof, businesses can establish credibility, inspire confidence, and encourage visitors to take action on their websites.
10. Not Monitoring Analytics
Not monitoring analytics can be detrimental to the success of a website. Tracking and analyzing the right analytics and metrics provides valuable insights into your website’s performance. This lets you make data-driven decisions for improvement.
Monitoring analytics lets you understand how your website is performing in terms of traffic, user behavior, and conversions.
Analytics provides valuable information on which pages are performing well, which ones need improvement, and where visitors may be dropping off. This data can help identify opportunities to optimize the website for better user experience and higher conversion rates.
Be sure to set up website analytics tools like Google Analytics and regularly review and analyze the data. Look for trends, patterns, and anomalies in the data to uncover areas of improvement.
Pay attention to metrics such as bounce rate, conversion rate, page load times, and user flow to gain insights into user behavior and engagement.
It’s also important to set clear goals and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for your website and monitor them regularly. This allows you to measure the success of your website in achieving your business objectives and make data-driven decisions to optimize performance.
Implementing A/B testing is also a good idea. Based on data-driven insights, this lets you optimize website elements, such as headlines, call-to-actions, and forms. Testing different variations can help identify what resonates best with users and leads to higher engagement and conversion rates.
Conclusion
While there’s a lot to consider when creating a website, these are some of the most common website problems that can be easily avoided. As long as your site performs well in search engines and offers a great user experience, it will add a lot more value to your business.
The great thing about building websites today is that you don’t need to be an expert to do it. With a tool like Wishpond’s AI Website Builder, you can simply choose a template, add in a few prompts, and the builder will generate an entire site for you. This includes text and high-quality graphics and ensures your site is optimized for strong performance. Join the waitlist now to try this awesome website builder for free.
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