4 Reasons Why Your Website Isn’t Converting (and What to Do)
It’s 2020, and everyone has a website. From large Fortune 500 companies to the local coffee shop on the corner, most businesses understand how important it is to be present online. But just having an online presence does not mean your online presence is helping. If you’ve invested in making a website but aren’t seeing the returns you would like, there are a few possible reasons why.
Your Website is Broken
Many websites are guilty of being broken. There may be parts of your website that aren’t functional. Sometimes the smallest errors on the backend result in an unusable web page. Your website could work fine on a desktop computer but completely fall apart when users are visiting from their cell phones or tablets. You may also have problems with your SEO, making your site hard to find through search. Maybe it is so bulky that it takes too much time to load, turning away potential business.
What to Do
Audit your website. Make sure everything is running smoothly. Check every link and make sure they are still active. Ensure that your web pages function properly on different devices and screen sizes. Once you start identifying fires, big or small, it’s time to put them out. Replace links, rewrite code and optimize for faster load times. These actions help root out the cause of your conversion problems.
You Aren’t Paying Attention to the Analytics
A website can be well-made, but not utilizing analytics can be the cause of poor conversion rates. If the answer to the question “why is my website not performing” is “I don’t know”, it’s time to start paying attention to the data. It is not just reviewing and creating reports about what the data says, but putting that information to work for your brand or business.
What to Do
Learn what data is important for the health of your website. Statistics about the sources of your site’s traffic, what pages drive the most traffic and how many interactions are taking place each visit are all great examples of data that is useful to optimize your website for conversions. Have someone comfortable with analytics improve your website based on data to attract consumers and drive action, or teach yourself how to understand your site’s numbers.
Your Website Has No Purpose
A lot of brands and businesses have a website just to say they have a website. But do these sites have a clearly defined purpose? That answer isn’t always so clear, and it may be why your conversion rate is low. Put yourself in the shoes of a potential client or customer, and navigate your website. Are you being made aware of a product or service? Are you being educated or informed? Are you motivated to buy or take any kind of action?
What to Do
If you can’t answer the above questions, it’s time to restructure your website. Develop a strategy for the journey you want visitors to take and the story you want to tell them when they land on your home page. Once a strategy is created, figure out how to implement it on your website. Each web page should have a clearly defined goal. This allows consumers to navigate easier and find the information they need faster. Having that speed on your side is not only welcomed by visitors, but keeps you competitive.
Your Website is Not Appealing
Sounds harsh, but it might be true. When consumers click on your site, they should feel engaged immediately. Six years ago, 15 seconds was the most a visitor would give you of their time. As the amount of content in the world is narrowing our global attention span, it’s important that within this time you leave a convincing first impression. Otherwise, consumers will leave and search elsewhere. This is as true for your mobile site as it is for your desktop site. No matter the device, if your consumers don’t feel hooked, they will no longer be your consumers. Website content is important here, but so is having great web design.
What to Do
It is a known fact in the marketing industry that photos and videos see higher engagement. This holds true in web design. It’s worth the effort to develop a high quality video for your home page to attract visitor attention right from the start. Don’t try to stuff it with everything about your brand or business. Keep it short, and only share the most valuable information that is vital to consumers. Use a mix of videos and photographs to break up blocks of text elsewhere on your website. In an increasingly visual world, cater to the desires of potential clients and customers.
All the information available to marketers today point to websites becoming more valuable, especially those with an e-commerce presence. If your brand or business is lacking that online boost due to low conversion rates, don’t keep falling behind this year. There are steps to take to give you wins in the digital world.
