8 Ways Your Website Could Be Holding You Back from Success
With the vast array of website platforms and design tools small business owners have at their disposal these days, it’s no longer enough to just have a website. You need a bloody good looking (and working) one.
Your website is the online face of your brand. It’s often the first impression potential customers get of your products or services, who you are as a person, and what they can expect from your business. Unfortunately, too many small business owners overlook the crucial role that website design plays in that “curbside” appeal factor, thinking that simply having a website presence will be enough.
In this post I’ve taken a microscope to some of the common website design pitfalls that could be holding your website back from success, as well as offered some practical solutions to help you turn things around.
#1. Slow Loading Times: A Major Turn-off
One of the most crucial elements of website design is its loading speed. In today's fast-paced digital landscape, visitors expect instant gratification. If your website takes too long to load, you risk losing potential customers even before they get a glimpse of your content. Studies show that a mere second of delay in loading time can lead to a significant drop in conversion rates.
Solution: Optimise your website's images and code, invest in a reliable hosting service (if you need one), and leverage caching techniques to speed up your site's performance. You'll not only improve user experience but also enhance your search engine rankings.
#2. Unresponsive Web Design: Failing to Cater to Mobile Users
In the age of smartphones and tablets, having a mobile-responsive website is no longer an option; it's a necessity. This means that your website design dynamically changes to suit the size of the screen the visitor is using to view your website. If your site isn't optimised for various screen sizes, you're alienating a considerable portion of potential visitors and potentially missing out on a substantial number of potential customers.
Solution: Implement a responsive web design that automatically adjusts elements based on the device used to access your website. This way, you ensure a seamless experience for users across desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
#3. Cluttered Layout: Confusing Visitors
Your website's design should be visually appealing, but excessive clutter can be overwhelming and off-putting for visitors. If your site is cluttered with too many images, flashy text or banners, too much animation or an abundance of text, it may distract users from your core message.
Solution: Embrace a clean and minimalistic layout that guides visitors through a clear and straightforward user journey. Focus on high-quality visuals and concise, compelling content that communicates your value proposition effectively.
#4. Lack of Clear Call-to-Action (CTA): Missed Opportunities
Your website's primary purpose is to encourage visitors to take action, whether it's making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or contacting your team. If your CTA buttons are hidden or unclear, you risk missing out on valuable conversions.
Solution: Make your CTAs prominent and compelling. Use contrasting colors and action-oriented language to encourage users to take the desired action. Conduct A/B tests to optimise the placement and wording of your CTAs for maximum impact.
#5. Ignoring SEO Best Practice: Invisible to Search Engines
Even the most visually stunning website won't achieve its full potential if it's not optimized for search engines. Neglecting SEO best practices means your site might not rank well in search results, making it challenging for potential customers to find you.
Solution: Conduct thorough keyword research and incorporate relevant keywords into your website's content, titles, meta tags, and URLs. Ensure your site's structure is search engine friendly, and don't forget to build quality backlinks to improve your site's authority.
#6. Poor Navigation: Losing Visitors’ Interest
If visitors can't find what they're looking for quickly, they'll likely leave your site and seek information elsewhere. A confusing navigation system can frustrate users and lead to high bounce rates.
Solution: Simplify your website's navigation by organising your content logically. Use clear headings, dropdown menus, and internal links to guide visitors to relevant pages. Implement a search bar to help users find specific information efficiently.
#7. Lack of Contact Information: Missed Opportunities for Engagement
Your website is a gateway for potential customers to connect with your business. If your contact information is challenging to find or nonexistent, you may lose valuable opportunities for customer engagement.
Solution: Include your contact information (phone number, email address, physical address) prominently on your website. Create a dedicated "Contact Us" page with a contact form to encourage visitors to reach out.
#8. Inconsistent Branding: Lack of Visual Appeal
Your website's visual elements should align with your brand's identity and convey a sense of professionalism. A consistent color scheme, appealing graphics, and high-quality images can significantly enhance the perception of your brand.
Solution: Review the overall look and feel of your website to make sure each page aligns with your brand colours, fonts and imagery. Remove anything that is inconsistent with your branding, your values and your message
The Squarespace Solution
Now I make it no secret that I LOVE Squarespace. I think it’s an amazing tool for small business owners. It let’s you put your best [website] foot forward, while still being easy enough for the average wears-all-hats biz owner to manage themselves. Here are a few reasons as to why I recommend Squarespace to my clients (and use it myself). And best of all, the platform allows you to address all of the above issues.
User-friendly interace: Squarespace’s interface is intuitive an accessible to users with little to no web design experience. You can attempt to design layouts yourself, or use pre-created templates (for full pages or sections) that have been designed with customer experience and conversion in mind already
Mobile responsiveness: Squarespace automatically creates a mobile-friendly design of your website. And their new Fluid design engine gives you the ability to tweak and customise your mobile version even further, making sure your site looks good on all screens
Built-in features: Squarespace offers heaps of built-in features like contact forms, newsletter subscriptions, blogging, e-commerce, analytics, scheduling, call-to-action buttons, marketing integrations and more. There are loads of feastures that you can use to offer your customers an amazing experience, and in turn, drive more conversions from your website
Built-in SEO: it’s easy to manage your page meta titles and descriptions, structure your headings, add alt text for images and more with Squarespace’s SEO tools. And contrary to some beliefs, Squarespace is not an inferior option for your website platform (compared to say WordPress). Google doesn’t care what platform your website is on, and Squarespace easily lets you update the important onpage SEO elements that you need to focus on.
Consistent branding: with Squarespace you can easily set your colour palette and fonts, upload your logo, add your brand images and adjust your page layouts to suit your brand. This makes it easy to stay consistently on brand, ensuring your are always putting your best foot forward online.
The “Yoast for Squarespace”
Check out this new Squarespace SEO plugin from SEO Space. It’s a game changer!
A well-designed website can be a game-changer for your online presence and business success. As you build or update your website, consider the impact of website design on user experience, search engine rankings, and overall brand perception.If you can combine the strengths of Squarespace with a focus on user experience and SEO, you can create a website that truly represents your brand and helps you achieve your online goals.
Remember, your website is often the first interaction potential customers have with your brand. Make it count!
