6 Website Mistakes that Turn Away Potential Customers
Everyone would agree if a website is doing its job, at a minimum it’s attracting visitors rather than repelling them. And yet … there are far too many sites that are failing to meet even this low bar of performance.
What are the most common turnoffs that people encounter? Let us count the ways …
Slow page loading times – Surveys show that nearly half of web users expect a web page to load in two seconds or less. And around 40% abandon a site that takes longer than three seconds to load. Load times for mobile devices are even more of an issue – and the website is blamed more often than the service provider for slow loading.
Sucky navigation – If you’ve structured your website around your organization chart, chances are you’re not offering the most intuitive navigation. Key to any website’s success is that people know what to do and where to go when they land there. This includes having clear calls-to-action.
Mobile unfriendly – Even for some websites supposedly optimized for mobile devices, they’re not cutting it. Too-small font sizes, horizontal scrolling back and forth and pinch-to-zoom requirements conspire to make a visit to the website simply not worth the bother. Now that mobile and other smaller devices comprise more than half of all online activity, dissing those customers is sure to have implications and consequences – none of them good.
Nothing beyond a generic contact form – The ubiquitous “Contact Us” form may actually be your least valuable method of lead generation. Often, it’s too broad to give you the kind of information that will help you begin to cultivate your leads wisely. Providing other means of contact will help people get in touch with you the way they want – particularly if their need is immediate. How about a phone number for starters?
The dreaded “About Us” page – often it’s where corporate mission statements go to die. Or vision statements that sound anything but “visionary.” If your page content sounds like some sort of corporate-speak pabulum … that’s because it is. Change it.
Finally, there’s always the website that so laden with keyword-stuffed copy, everyone just knows the content was prepared or edited by an SEO specialist. That scheme may be great for search engines, but it’s terrible for real-live visitors. No one likes reading awkward-sounding content – and people certainly won’t stick around to do so.
If you see your website in any of the points above, the time to start rectifying matters is now. We’d love to help, too – just as we have many other companies. Call us at 800-457-1099.
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