Your website is the collective hub where customers can find everything they need – your company history, contact details, product and services, testimonials from past clients, your social media channels and more – and there is no better way to entice them towards taking advantage of what your business has to offer.
If you don’t have a website, chances are you will not be in the top searches for your industry, and even if you are, it will only be in online directories, which are not seen as anywhere near as trustworthy as an official business website, so get yours up and running ASAP.
Unclear Marketing
You don’t have to be word savvy to write website content, but you do need to consider the words and images that you put on your pages so that it is instantly clear to whoever clicks on your pages what your business does and how it does it. Any confusion is likely to put the visitor off straight away, and that’s only good news for your competitors. Every business should invest in professionally designed websites to ensure maximum customer outreach.
Your Site Isn’t Mobile- Friendly
Many people use their smartphones to find businesses online, and if your website isn’t optimized for mobile, you are going to struggle to entice them towards your products and services. The majority of WordPress themes are automatically optimized for mobile, which means that they automatically change to suit the screen they are being viewed on – smartphone, laptop, and desktop. Head to your mobile and check that your website works properly on it.
Broken Links
Whether it’s the product and services pages, blog posts or any other links on your website, broken links are trouble. Customers who want to navigate around your site don’t want to be redirected to 404 pages or incorrect pages. It gives a terrible impression but can be sorted out pretty quickly. Simply head to your CMS and go through each of your posts and pages to make sure they take you to the right place, then test them out from your website itself.
The Absence of a Blog
A business website without a blog can be seen as less legitimate than one that does. It is a superb way of getting customers to your website via your social media channels, and an opportunity to share experience and knowledge in your chosen field. Visitors like to see that there are living breathing people behind the business, and one of the best ways to do that is to have a blog filled with industry news, helpful advice and news updates from your company. A blog will add an element of creative and personable flair to your website as the content that is created is unique to your site, and will showcase to potential customers a level of attentiveness to keeping up with the pace of relevant news, topical points, and opinion.
The absence of Social Media Links
If you have a Facebook page, Twitter and Instagram accounts, a YouTube channel and any other social media platforms, you should be displaying them loud and proud on your website. You can have social icons displayed in the header of your site, or have your feeds in the sidebars of your site for people to engage with. This is another way to showcase your legitimacy and encourage customers to engage with you further than simply buying your products and services.
No Testimonials or Reviews on Your Site
You can have the greatest website ever created, but in order to entice those customers who need more than an aesthetic website to invest in you, there needs to be something else. This is where testimonials from past clients/customers are a big help, as they add legitimacy to your business. Reviews have the same effect, and shouldn’t be hidden away on Facebook, Google, and TripAdvisor. They should be shown on your website, or at least be linked to. Even if there are one or two reviews that you would like to bury, even they show that you are a real company who can be trusted.
Your Company is Faceless
Many company websites concentrate too hard on products and services and come across as cold as a result. Customers like to see that there are people steering the wheel, and your website is the perfect place to show who you are and tell the story of your business. This can come in the form of blog posts, a history of the business, a ‘Meet the Team’ page or a welcome video. All of these will add value to your business and add to the customer experience.
None of Your Clients Are Featured
Anybody can write ‘we have hundreds of top clients’ on their website, but if they’re not featured, why should potential clients believe you? Businesses who work with other businesses should display their clients on their website, to showcase who you are working with now and who your previous clients are. The best way to do this is with testimonials, but if you’ve got some big-name clients, display their names and logos on your homepage. Logos are instantly recognizable and go a long way to converting clients who may need that extra push.
A Lack Of Visuals
A website that is devoid of images and video content is likely to be ignored by search engines and customers alike, as it doesn’t give the impression of quality and legitimacy. Pages that are blocks of texts don’t grab the attention of customers, even if they are brilliantly worded and contain all the information and keywords you need.
You don’t need to invest in a full-time photographer or videographer for your business, but for the case of the quality of your website, a solid investment is to have several professionally taken photographs of your premises and the products and services you provide. A welcome video is another way to get people to stay on your website longer and can tick all of the boxes that a block of text does, just in a more engaging way.
Founder Dinis Guarda
IntelligentHQ Your New Business Network.
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