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6 Ways a Bad Website is Killing Your Business

What Makes Bad Website Bad Web Design by Blue Square Management
What Makes Bad Website Bad Web Design by Blue Square Management

What Makes a Bad Website : Bad Web Design

Over the last 10 years or so, technology has improved in leaps and bounds with the internet being at the very forefront. This is even more evident with the development of tablet and smart phones as they become more and more integrated into our everyday lives. In today’s business world you must embrace technology otherwise you are going to be left behind.

It’s very simple…in today’s age you must have a website, however large or small your business, and you need a website that will work for you. If your website is outdated, poorly designed, not mobile friendly and neglected you could be losing customers, patients and sales every month.

If your business is not getting the leads and enquiries you think it should be getting but are not sure why, maybe the answer lies with your website.

The following are 5 ways in which your website could potentially be costing you new business.

1. No Clear Call To Action

You need to ask your website visitors to do what you want them to do, i.e. call you for a quote, sign up for a newsletter, follow you on social media, sign up for a free trial etc. This is a what a “Call To Action” is. You need to make it clear on your website what you would like the visitor to do once they have finished browsing your products and/or services. What you want them to do will very much depend on your business. Create a simple button with a hyperlink to the required page – “Click Here For Your Free Trial” is all that is needed. Place these links/buttons strategically throughout your website.

2. Poor Website Layout

Bad Web Design
Bad Web Design

A new visitor to your website spends approximately 6 seconds checking whether to stay on your site or to click the back button and visit one of your competitors instead. Make sure that your most important information is above the fold, namely on the part of the screen they first see and not in an area where they must scroll down too.

A website’s layout is probably one of the most important things to think about for a new business website. Yes, there are numerous free “build your own” websites available, but it is always worth hiring a professional web designer to create and produce your business web site for you.

Do your research. Find out what your potential customers are searching for. See what your top competitors are doing and think about what each page is about. Don’t waffle on. Make your text is as concise as possible. Here’s a little SEO tip – Search Engine Optimisation – include keywords and phrases that people type into Google on your page, but don’t overdo it.

People will be visiting your website because they have a problem, and your products or services can solve that problem. They will be browsing your site to see if you have the solution, so don’t have large amounts of text, keep it to a minimum. Include images, but not too many, and if you can include a video about that particular product or service, that will be better still. 72% of people prefer to watch a video over text when learning about a product or service. This also helps to keep people on your website for longer, which helps improve your search engine rankings.

3. Outdated or Poor Design

A professional looking website can boost leads and sales, whilst a poorly designed and thought out site will turn potential customers or patients away!

Money can be an issue, especially if your business is just starting out. As a result, you may be thinking about creating your website yourself. There are some people who may not be designers but still have a natural flair or good eye for design, however, most people do not. By undertaking designing their own website can cause more problems in the long term and end up with a badly designed site. This normally takes much longer than anticipated and takes you aware from doing what you are best at, and that is running your business. No wonder 41% of small business owners who are unhappy with their current website say design/aesthetics is one of their top priorities

In order to prevent this anguish, hire a professional web design service, making certain that your business web site looks stunning, contemporary, is fully responsive and mobile friendly and easily allows customers or patients to find what they are looking for.

4. No Social Media Links

Bad Web Design No Social Media Links
Bad Web Design No Social Media Links

Whether you like it or not, Social Media is here to stay. So if you have not already created your social media pages for your business, you need to do it ASAP! Millions of people use social media to interact with friends and family, find out what is going on in the world, and what businesses that they are interested in, are doing. It’s free to use, has affordable marketing and advertising and is a great way to get your message across and get more customers or sell more products.

There are many different social media platforms out there, and depending on your business, you may find some are better than others. The ones that most businesses create pages for are:

Once created, add links to those particular pages on your website, either in the header and/or footer sections. This allows your customers/patients to be kept up to date with what you are doing. That can be offering hints and tips, news about your industry, products and services that you provide, as well as sales and special offers and promotions. By utilising your social networking sites, you have a direct line of communication with people who are already interested in your products or services as they have already subscribed to your channel. Because you set up a Call To Action asking them to subscribe, didn’t you? If you have not done this, create a simple button saying something like “Be kept up to date by liking us on Facebook” with a direct link to your Facebook business page… it’s that easy.

5. Your Website is Not Mobile Friendly

Bad Web Design Not Mobile Friendly
Bad Web Design Not Mobile Friendly

You know most people today have a smart phone and/or tablet. You just need to walk around your local shopping centre and you will see a lot of people walking about, starring at their mobile phone! 81% of people in the US have and 95% of households in the UK own a smart phone. Today, more and more people use their phones to browse and search the web, rather than use a laptop or computer. If your business website is not mobile friendly, then you need to sort this out as soon as possible as you will be losing customers.

If your website has really small text on a mobile phone, and you have to pinch and expand, scroll left and right, up and down, then it is not mobile friendly! This is extremely frustrating to users and they will click away and try your competitor’s website, which has a mobile friendly design.

By having a responsive, mobile friendly website, when a user is browsing it via a smart phone or tablet, it will automatically resize to that particular device. Resulting in no zooming in on text, accidentally clicking links and no scrolling left and right. They just scroll down.

6. Hard To Find Contact Details

The most effective way of increasing leads and selling products is by simply adding your contact details to each and every page of your website. Don’t just add them to a contact page. Potential customers do not want to go through different pages just to find your email address or telephone number. People want to find what they are looking for quickly and easily. Just add your contact details to the footer of your site. Done once and it will be visible on all pages.

We hope you found these 6 website design tips about how your website might be costing you business helpful. If you did, please LIKE and SHARE on social media…. See what I did there…added a Call To Action.

What Can A Good Website Do For Your Business?

There are very few businesses today that do not have some sort of online presence. The majority do have websites; however, many probably don’t have a good website. While those successful businesses that have invested in a well-designed website together with SEO have now doubt seen a boost in ranking of their website, which in turn has increased their sales and profits. People search the web for solutions to their problems and having a great website that can be found is way more convenient for your customers or patients – it makes them buy from you!

Is Your Website Looking Outdated, Tired and Not Mobile Friendly?

Are You Looking For a Fresh, Contemporary Web Design To Help Generated More Customers?

As professional web designers, we at Blue Square Management, help create stunning looking responsive website that a modern and contemporary in design. Together with our SEO services, help your customers/patients find you for the products and/or services that you provide.

More Web Design Tips

Still want more good web design tips, check out these blog posts:

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About the author

Blue Square Management are a web design and SEO Digital Marketing Agency based in Orpington and Bromley on the borders of South East London and Kent. We help businesses get more leads, increase sales and grow their businesses. Basically, Blue Square Management helps you get more phone calls and sell more products!We do by improving your search engine rankings and getting your found when people are looking for your products or services. We do this through online marketing, which includes SEO (Search Engine Optimisations), Local SEO, Web Design, PPC Management services, Online Reputation Management, Video Production Services, online Video Marketing and Social Media Marketing.Need help with your online marketing? Want more customers? Sell more products? Contact London & Kent's lead online digital marketing company, Blue Square Management to find out how we can help your business.