You’ve probably heard people telling you that you need a website to really help your brand stand out from the crowds. What they should actually be saying, “You need a GREAT website to stand out from your competitors.” 

Why? Because bad websites can actually do more harm than good. Not only can you lose conversions, but you can be plain ol’ scaring your visitors away when they land on your page. So, here are my top 8 website mistakes that hurt your business and brand – and how you can avoid them.

Outdated content

Your website content always needs to keep the user (your visitors) in mind, meaning that the content must be both relevant and useful for them. Google prefers quality posts over quantity. So make sure the information on your site is valuable for your audience.

I would suggest going through your website and conducting a content audit. Decide which sections need to be updated or need to be removed. Optimize your keywords for what’s trending now. Update any old copy that isn’t relevant or is no longer serving your business. All of this can help how Google indexes your site in its search results. 

Typos and other errors

When a visitor lands on your site and they immediately see obvious spelling and/or grammar mistakes, that doesn’t give them a great first impression of your business or brand. This also goes for broken links. These types of website mistakes are super simple to fix!

I highly recommend that you go through, find and fix these broken links (by linking to more up-to-date articles), typos, and grammar mistakes pronto. Before you publish content, it’s important to proofread and make sure everything works properly. Try running your content through an app like Grammarly!  

Unclear Message

You need to tell the visitors who land on your page exactly who you are and what you do. This message needs to be consistent across your website. For instance, if your home page states that you only serve women-led small businesses, but on your services page you state that you help ANY small business, that’s not clear, nor is it consistent.

This includes making sure your visual elements and content provide a clear (and consistent!) message. Deliver information that your visitor is looking for – as clearly as possible. Each page needs to have a clear message and intention for your visitor. Funnel them through your site, so they end up contacting you for your services or buying your product! 

This includes clear call-to-actions. Make these clear and abundant on your website. You want your website to impact your business positively, and that starts with having a website strategy that will convert those visitors into customers. 

Website Clutter

Ok, so website clutter doesn’t always involve having too much content or information on your page. It can be anything disturbing in a visitor’s website experience. Things like auto-plays, too many graphics, automated background music, flashy animations, too bright of colors, too many colors, too many ads – the list can go on. These elements can turn off visitors so fast. To avoid this website mistake, just keep your website simple, clean, and avoid flashy elements (unless it’s just totally part of your brand).

Site Navigation

You really want to make sure your audience can easily find the information they are looking for. Like I mentioned already, keep your website simple and clean! Don’t clutter your site, trying to give your visitors all the information. Remember, “less is more.” 

Your audience needs to be able to navigate your website, find categories they are looking for, and know what action to take on each page. That means your content needs to be organized, readable, and have CTA’s that stand out.

Mobile-friendliness

I’ve mentioned a few times that having a mobile-friendly website is super important. While this is actually more of a mobile mistake rather than a website mistake – it’s still all connected! And vital for your long-term business strategy, because smartphones won’t be going away anytime soon.

Now, most people use their smartphones when accessing websites, and this number is only increasing. That means when your website isn’t working correctly or isn’t compatible with a mobile device; you are losing potential customers! Even if you have a clear and consistent message, if your website isn’t responsive to mobile devices, no one can read that message. 

Your audience (like us all) is always on the go, so you need to make sure your website immediately catches their attention – before they swipe their finger off your site.

Visually unappealing 

I know I am a web designer, but I promise, a visually unappealing website has been proven to hurt your business. You’ve got 0.05 seconds to convince your audience to stay on your site. On top of that, 57% of internet users say they won’t recommend a poorly designed or visually unappealing website, and 38% of users say they won’t even bother engaging if a website is unattractive! 

Remember, your website gives your business credibility – so make sure your website is visually pleasing to your visitors. First impressions can make or break your business strategy! This means taking a hard look at your colors, fonts, and the ease of reading, among other visual elements. If you need further reading, here are 5 reasons why a professional web design is important for your business.

Not Optimized for Search Engines

I know, SEO can be really complicated if you don’t know anything about it, but I promise you – it’s an incredibly important element of your website strategy! SEO actually has everything to do with the responsiveness of your website and where that ranks on Google’s search results. That’s why a well-designed website is important.

SEO also has a strong connection with the content that is on your site. And by content I mean copy. Having strong copy filled with searchable keywords related to your industry or ideal customer will be flagged by Google allowing your website to match with your audience’s search results. So you need to make sure your website information is valuable, useful, relevant, and up-to-date. 

Final Thoughts

Did I just overwhelm you? I hope not! You can easily avoid these problems. Just use a consistent strategy that keeps you updated on your website as you move through (and thrive) in your business endeavors. If you prefer to hand all of this off to a professional web designer, I’d love to chat more about your website needs! 

Schedule Discovery Call with me or just contact me with any questions or concerns you have about any website mistakes you might be making. Let’s make sure your website is working FOR your business – not against it!