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1. DIY? More like, DI-cry! (Wix, Squarespace, et al)
It’s your wedding day. The most important day of your life. Would you go down to your local Walmart and grab a box cake for your special day? Most of you would say, “heck no!”. Some of you might say, “yea, duh; save money”. I respect that, honestly. But, for those of you who see the value in hiring a professional baker, this one’s for you. Do-it-yourself website platforms have great templates, easy to use functionality and are often not too terrible of an option for someone starting out. But you’re a big boy/girl now. You take your business seriously and your website should reflect that. Hiring a professional web designer & developer will ensure you’re vision is coming to life, the audience you’re targeting is being considered, and you have all the control you could ever want or need over your website.
2. Not Mobile-Friendly
Mobile performance is critical. Full stop. Your website should be optimized for mobile browsing. Over 80% of most website traffic is coming from mobile devices. A lot of the buying journey starts on a phone and ends on a desktop. So having a fully responsive website, one that scales across all mobile, tablet, and desktops is an absolute must. If you stop reading now, we hope this is the only take away you get out of it.
3. Slow Websites
We have seconds, if not fractions of a second to get our audience’s attention. A slow-loading, slow performing website will be the death of leads and sales! Ensuring that your content is optimized, your website is hosted on a compatible server for your bandwidth, and you’re monitoring all your assets is incredibly important. Again, it’s 2019 guys! 99.99% of your visitors are going to be on a fast Wi-Fi connection. But what about those few potential leads on a slower service either on the mobile device or desktop?
4. Not ranking on Page One of Google
The best place to hide a dead body is on the 2nd page of Google. Not that we’ve hidden any dead bodies, that’s just what we’ve heard. A-n-y-w-a-y. Organically ranking in the top positions in Google is no easy task and not one that you may have the time to invest in doing. We specialize in ranking websites on the first page of Google! Your website IS NOT as “set-it-and-forget-it” product. The Search Engines changes their ranking criteria faster than you can shake a stick at! Don’t get left behind, your competition is likely already on the first page, if not the top positions!
5. No call-to-actions (or you’re not assuming the close)
According to Wikipedia, a call-to-action (CTA) is an instruction to a website visitor to provoke an immediate response, usually using an imperative verb such as “call now”, “find out more” or “visit a store today”. Call to actions gets reactions. Yet incredibly, many small local business websites have no call to actions at all. Or if they do, they’re pretty lame.
If you want your website visitor to call, tell them to. If you want them to fill in your form, guide them there. And ask them to fill it in. Don’t just assume your website visitor will take the obvious action you want them to. That’s not how it works in the digital world. You’ve got to make your call to actions jump off the page so that your visitor can’t help but take notice. And pair it with compelling copy.
Creating a kick-ass call to action that gets results is a combination of conversion-centered design (using elements such as contrast and directional cues) and copy that gets people to say yes. We’ll cover it in detail in a later post, but if you can’t wait until then, this article from Wordstream will certainly set you on the track to success.
Assuming the close. What does that mean? Also known as the presumptive close, in which the salesperson intentionally assumes that the prospect has already agreed to buy, and wraps up the sale. “Just pass me your credit card and I’ll get the paperwork ready.” Your call-to-action should assume that your clients are ready to buy. Closing a sale is a … closed loop. Closing. Loop….closed loop. Open-ended questions leave too many “outs” for the prospect.
You: “Ready to get started?”
Them: No, not really.
You: Oh .. well, okay. Maybe later?
Them: Sure, maybe.
Instead, you could be creating a dialog on your website that assumes the close:
You: Buy Now!
Them: YES SIR!
You: CHA-CHING! 😀
Okay, maybe not that easy, but you get the point! So, schedule a call with us right now to book a time to discuss your project! We’ll be waiting. It’s the bright button at the button right-hand side.
The True Cost of Poor Web Design
So how much is a bad website really costing in terms of concrete money? Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad web design is hurting you in these ways:
- When your site doesn’t work on mobile, you lose customers. Full Stop.
- Missing, thin or duplicate content hurts your ranking with search engines. People can’t find you and the ones who do are disappointed with what they find. Remember, if you need to hide a dead body, go to page 2 of Google.
- If your site doesn’t load in less than three seconds, half of all the people looking for you quit trying. They will move on to your competitor.
- A bad website makes your business look bad. Customers form a negative perception of you and your brand. They leave and don’t come back.
If you have a poor web design, at best you’re leaving money on the table. You’re probably also giving clients to your competitors. I’m sure they appreciate that.
In contrast, a good web design brings customers to you. The websites we build work around the clock to draw traffic that turns into revenue for our clients. Your website is a salesperson that never eats, sleeps, or takes a break or vacation. Treat it like one that works this hard for you.
Just like snoring at night, you don’t have to live with a bad website. Get in touch or schedule a call and let’s talk about how we can create a website that reflects the quality of your business and pays for itself many times over!