In this digital economy, every business needs a website, but just any old website won’t do. Is your website for your online business slowing you down instead of pushing you forward? Make sure you are not committing any of these deadly website sins:
1. You are not driving any traffic to it
Every online business website needs traffic. Without traffic, you will have a hard time building a customer base and generating income. It is essential that you have a steady stream of website traffic. This includes free traffic from tactics like article marketing, blogging, social media, and search engine optimization, and paid traffic using, for example, banner advertising, solo ads, remarketing, pay-per-click, and social media advertising.
2. Confusing website navigation
Visitors to your website need to know how to find information. Be sure to divide your content into sections that visitors can access quickly. Also, it will be useful to have a search function on your website for particular content.
3. The website is never updated
When visitors only see content that’s dated months or years ago, they’ll think you’ve closed. Old and out-of-date content can also negatively affect your search engine rankings and that makes it harder for people to find your business online when they don’t know your website address. Update your website content regularly with relevant information for visitors to read, view, share and act on.
4. Visitors cannot contact you
Let people connect with you and make your contact information easy to find. Give potential buyers an easy way to call, email, or write you whenever they want.
5. Your shopping cart is not secure
If you’re selling products directly from your online business website, you’ll need a properly functioning shopping cart system. Shoppers will not tolerate inappropriate shopping carts that do not meet their expectations. If your checkout doesn’t look completely legit and secure, people won’t use it and they won’t buy from you.
6. Your content loads too slowly
The faster computers get, the less patience people have. Generally, someone will wait around 7 seconds for your page to load. If nothing has happened after that, they will leave and move on to another website. Use simple images and text on your website so it loads fast. Also, have your online business website hosted on a server that ensures fast load times.
7. Your website has broken links
When a visitor clicks on a link you’ve provided within your content, make sure that link actually goes to the right place. This includes links that go to content on and off your website. Broken links that go nowhere tell visitors that you’re disorganized and not checking what you’re doing. Would you want to do business with someone like that? Check your links frequently and remove or update any that don’t work.
