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Nothing is more frustrating than designing a website, putting your blood, sweat, tears, and $$$ into it and then …. it just sits there. And if you do get some visitors, they don’t convert. Before you scrap your whole website, there may be some easy, quick fixes you can make that will take your website to the next level and increase your conversion rate!
1). THE NAVIGATION IS CONFUSING
A navigation that isn’t clear is like trying to take a road trip using a GPS from 2004. Not only should the navigation be user-friendly and straightforward, it also needs to be strategic. You want them to go from Point A to Point Z with as much ease as possible. It’s your site, so don't forget that you get to choose what that path is! A rule of thumb I like to use to keep the navigation simple is making sure there are no more than 5 main options for visitors to click on.
2). THE SITE ISN’T USER FRIENDLY
Listen, just because it might have been super complicated to design your website, doesn’t mean it should feel that way for users. If a visitor can’t figure out how to find information or navigate your site, they’re absolutely going to leave and find a site they can figure out.
Try looking at your site from the perspective of a first time visitor. Would you know how to navigate it and find the right info then? If you feel like you know your site too well, ask a close friend to take a look and give you the honest truth. Just be sure to take it with a grain of salt ;)
3). THE DESIGN ISN’T….WELL, IT’S JUST NOT GOOD
Information is important, yes, but visuals are what sell! If you’re a professional using comic sans, or the font color is too light, too dark, too small, the branding colors clash drastically….well, you get it, the visitor will leave. In fact, it’ll take visitors lesson than 1 second to figure out if they like the site design enough to stay. This is exactly why branding is so important alongside the copy.
4). THE LINKS DON’T WORK
Talk about a bummer. If a visitor really, really wants to access what is on the other side of that link, maaaybe they’ll contact you. But to a first or even 5th time visitor, chances are they’ll just leave. There are almost 2 billion websites in the world. While yours may be great and unique, chances are there’s another site that can give them what they need. Don’t let a technical error send someone away for good!
Pro tip: set your phone time for 30 mins and click through all of the links on your site. That way you’ll be able to know for sure if any links are broken or lead to the wrong place!
5). IT’S HARD TO FIND RELEVANT INFORMATION
The reason someone goes to your site is because they’re looking for information or a service, whether it be a tip on how to do something, a product your store offers, or how to contact you. If it feels like a scavenger hunt to find that information, then they’re likely going to leave and go elsewhere.
Make sure that not only is all of the pertinent information available, but it also is easy to find. This can be done just through the layout alone or by using a search function as well!
6). LACK OF STATS
Show us the stats! As much as we want to just take your word for it, it’s important to see real information and stats that your product/service had success. Unsure what stats to show? Look at your competitors’ sites to see what stats they’re showing, and use that information to figure out what you need to include on your site, plus a few more because you’re just that good.
7). ZERO TESTIMONIALS
Now that you have some stats listed on your site, it’s important to show visitors the incredible experience your clients had! Adding a few testimonials to your site is quick and easy -- your current and former clients probably had a great experience working with you and would gladly write a few kind sentences about their experience.
Having social proof can be the differentiating factor between whether someone signs up for your service or not. Humans value the opinions of others, so adding that testimonial can do more than you realize at no cost to you!
8). LACK OF URGENCY
I already know what you’re going to say, but this is not a tortoise and the hare situation. I’m all for taking the time to smell the roses, but your site isn’t one of those places. You want your site to have a sense of urgency so it gets visitors to take action.
If you create the sense that it’s something they can just come back to and decide on later, what are the chances that they’re actually going to do and remember that? Spoiler alert, it’s not me, and it’s probably not them, either.
You can nudge visitors to take action through what’s called a “call-to-action” which simply means that you’re asking your visitors to take an action like “click here!” or “download this free eBook!” That way, once you have laid out the information, you’re helping them take that next step.
9). TOO MANY CTAs
So you’ve created a sense of urgency, great! But now there are too many options. By having a huge selection of choices, it can lead to visitors being overwhelmed and ultimately not selecting anything. You want to use your CTAs to strategically provide visitors with options so that they can make a final decision and ultimately make a purchase/sign up for a service.
10). SLOW LOAD TIME
If your site takes more than 1 seconds to load (yup, you read that right), you can bet that visitors will leave your site. The rate at which information is shared with us means that no one wants to have to wait for it anymore. There are many ways you can increase your loading time so that’s not sending people away. This can include compressing the file size, removing unnecessary plugins, reduce redirects, the list goes on! This link shows you how to do that! www.convertkit.com/how-to-make-web-pages-load-fast
11). THE MOBILE VIEW ISN’T OPTIMIZED
In 2019, websites were viewed 52.2% on mobile devices. If that statistic alone isn’t enough to convince you to edit your mobile view, think of it this way -- you could be losing more than half of the people who visit your site by not having an optimized site. Think about the last time you yourself visited a site -- did you check it out on a desktop or on your phone? Mobile optimization is essential.
To edit this, most website platforms have a mobile editing view, and if not, convert your theme to one that is mobile friendly!
Still having trouble converting website visitors? We’ve got you.