Not earning the website traffic and online sales you want, savvy business owner?
You might be thinking your website is failing. There are many factors that contribute to website failure, from slow page speed to poor design. In my 20+ years of designing websites, I haven’t come across a single issue that couldn’t be repaired. đ
Keep reading to learn the three most common reasons your website is failing â and how to fix those issues â so your website can get back to generating revenue and leads!
Why your website isn’t making money?
Let’s break down some common culprits that keep your site from driving sweet revenue.
1. Your website isn’t optimized for SEO
Without search engine optimization (SEO), your site won’t drive leads and revenue.
Today, 93% of online experiences start with search engines, like Google or Bing.
When people search online for products and services you offer, you want to appear at the top of search results. This is especially important since only 25% of searchers look at the second page of results.
But with more than 1.9 billion websites, there’s serious competition for top rankings.
How can your company earn a top spot in search results? With SEO.
SEO optimizes your website for search engines, as well as users. While it includes several technical and non-technical strategies, SEO maintains a simple and straightforward goal: Provide a fast and helpful experience to users.
Companies that donât use SEO place themselves at risk for website failure.
People canât find your site, so your site doesnât earn traffic, leads, or sales. This problem can become worse if you have a slow, poorly designed website because search engines like Google use speed and user behavior as ranking factors.
SEO helps your website become a lead- and revenue-generating machine by improving your visibility in search results.
If your company doesnât use SEO, itâs one possible reason why your website isnât making money.
Why an optimized website loses money
In todayâs digital landscape, users rely on search engines like Google and Bing to find their next purchase. Studies show that 80% of consumers and 71% of business buyers start their product research with search engines.
If your company doesnât optimize your website for search engines (and users), you miss a significant amount of traffic and lose a substantial amount of money. Your audience doesnât even have a chance to discover your business and its products or services.
With the potential impact of SEO on your companyâs revenue, you canât afford to overlook this strategy.
How to fix an unoptimized website
Optimizing your website for SEO doesnât happen overnight or in a week. Itâs an ongoing process, which means your business needs to commit to SEO and make it a part of your strategy. When you invest in SEO services, it will still take time to optimize your site and generate revenue â but it’s well worth it in the long run.
While creating an SEO-friendly website can serve as one of the most challenging fixes for a failing website, it also offers the biggest impact. You can improve not only your position in search results but also increase critical company numbers like sales and revenue.
If you want to optimize your website for SEO, review the basics of SEO, from keywords to title tags.
Once you learn the basics of SEO, you can move forward with your SEO strategy. Start by auditing your website, whether manually, professionally, or with an SEO checker. Your audit will provide the foundation for your SEO plan.
Every SEO plan is different, but they all include a focus on the following factors:
- Researching keywords or search terms used by your audience
- Optimizing the title tags, meta descriptions, and content of pages
- Creating new website pages, like blog posts, that target high-value keywords
- Improving page speed
- Building a responsive website that displays on all devices, from laptops to smartphones
- Networking with industry leaders and bloggers
- And more
Optimizing your site for SEO is a daunting task.  If you already use SEO, consider a professional SEO audit.
Your Website Fairy GodmotherTM can help you tighten up weak spots in your SEO strategy to drive more conversions and revenue.
2. Your website isn’t responsive
Today, more than 50% of the worldâs Internet traffic comes from mobile devices. This means people are relying more on their smartphones and tablets to access the Internet, rather than their laptops or desktops.
If your site doesn’t adapt to the devices people use to access it, you’re sending money down the drain. Thatâs why responsive design is essential.
Why an unresponsive website costs you money
An unresponsive design costs your site money for a few reasons, including:
Mobile-first index
Google â one of the world’s largest search engines â follows a mobile-first approach to its crawling and indexing process.
That means Google crawls your website and indexes it for search results from a mobile perspective. If you donât have a responsive website, Google will know â and non-responsive sites usually rank lower in search results.
Lower rankings translate to less traffic (and ultimately revenue) since 75% of users don’t look past the first page of search results.
User experience (UX)
When it comes to web design, user experience (UX) is crucial. You need to provide the best possible experience for your website visitors. If you donât, they will leave your site, which will result in fewer purchases and less money for your business.
Since more than 40% of online transactions happen on mobile devices, your company needs a responsive website if you want to make money. Otherwise, youâre giving away valuable customers (and revenue) to your competitors.
A hard-to-use site can result in lost revenue for a few reasons, including:
- People canât view or find the information they need
- People canât take the actions they want
- People canât access your site
Essentially, a poorly designed site prevents users from doing what they (and you) want.
When it comes to web design, you want to provide a seamless customer experience. People should move from one page to another with ease. They shouldnât have to think about what they need to do because your website provides an intuitive experience.
A few web design elements that can lead to poor usability and frustrating user experiences include:
- Navigation menus
- Typography
- Clickable elements
- Layout
- Color palette
For perspective on the impact of poor usability on your websiteâs performance, consider this fact: Almost 90% of users shop with a competitor after a poor user experience (UX). Itâs no surprise, then, that usability is one of the top reasons for website failure.
In short, an unresponsive website isnât good for your bottom line.
How to fix an unresponsive website
A responsive site design or redesign is the solution to an unresponsive website.Â
If you want to make your website a place that users and web designers love, take the following steps:
Ask friends, family members, and coworkers to complete a task on your site
Monitor their actions (and reactions) as they try to complete the task
Request feedback on your siteâs look, as well as what made the task difficult
Next, compile all that feedback and look for similarities.
For example, did almost everyone comment that the text was difficult to read, because of its color? Or, did they mention that the navigation was unexpected in its organization, making the task challenging?
With this feedback, you can work with your design and development team to come up with some fixes.
A few examples of some changes to improve your website and prevent website failure include:
- Making the navigation bar consistent in its location and organization
- Updating your website copy for clarity
- Tweaking the site color palette for readability
- Changing the website layout for improved usability
- Creating a responsive design so that your site displays on all devices correctly
Contact me today to discuss your options, needs, and business strategy.
3. Your website isn’t fast enough
A slow site is one of the top reasons websites fail.
Users today expect sites to load in two seconds or less â and if it doesn’t, they’ll leave. Thatâs why boosting your websiteâs speed by one second can increase your conversions by 7%, which means more revenue for your company. Â
Why a slow website costs your business money
No matter your industry, product, or service, your company canât afford a slow website.
It doesnât matter who your target audience is, you need a fast site to earn their attention and their money.
Why?
People donât want to wait for your page or site to load. Theyâre on a mission to get something done, whether itâs researching a topic, comparing service prices, or finding a new recipe for tonightâs dinner. They want answers, and they want them now.
More than 50% of users abandon sites that load after more than three seconds.
Thatâs why websites that load in five seconds or less maintain a 35% lower bounce rate â or percentage of people who leave your site after visiting only one page.
A high bounce rate can cause your site to lose traffic (and money) by earning lower rankings in search results. Again, a lower ranking in search results translates to decreased visibility, which can kill your online leads, sales, and revenue.
Companies that make page speed a priority can experience a range of benefits.
A business that increases its site speed by one second, for example, increases its conversions by seven percent. Even better, they experience longer sessions, meaning people spend more time on the companyâs website.
How to fix a slow website
Depending on your website, it can be a fast fix to improve your site speed. For example, if you have multiple videos on a page, removing a few can boost your page speed. Compressing your websiteâs images can also increase your siteâs load time. (You shouldn’t have more than one video on a page.)
Additional fixes, like the following, will require the expertise of a developer:
- Reduce the number of redirects on your website
- Optimize your siteâs HTML code
- Decrease your CSS and JavaScript
- Review your hosting option
You can also invest in page speed optimization services, which take care of the entire process. Go ahead â check your site speed, and see if it costs your business money.
If this is beyond your comfort level and/or tech skills — give me shout. I’ll run an audit on your site – totally free. If your website has any issues, we can talk about an optimization plan.
Earn more money from your site
Your website is one of your companyâs most valuable assets. Are you missing out on valuable leads and revenue due to a poor online presence?
Just contact me to learn how my SEO services can help you!