Whether you built your website yourself or you hired someone to do it, there are some super common mistakes that even the most seasoned designers can make.
Your website should be an investment. An investment that should at some point, generate revenue for you.
Your website can’t do all the heavy lifting alone – you have to have a solid strategy to keep that traffic coming in – but it should convert that traffic into leads and buyers.
But if you’re doing any of these things, you’re more likely to have a browser bounce before they’ve even dug into your website for more than a few minutes.
Today, we’re going to dive into 5 of these 10 super common mistakes. But don’t worry! You can grab the ENTIRE list and how to FIX them at the bottom of this article!
Mistake #1 – Not sharing the benefits of the services you provide
I see this so much that it had to be the number one slot.
When someone first lands on your website, do they know instantly how you help them?
Often, we get caught up in the features of what we provide. The nitty gritty details that we think separate us.
I, for instance, build custom WordPress websites. In my world, it’s almost unheard of anymore. Most designers and developers even have switched to using premium themes and builders like Elementor and Divi.
I know that these builders come with a world of problems because I’m updating other sites built with them. I also know that they’re not as user friendly as they claim to be and even my more tech-savvy clients would struggle with them.
I custom code because it’s more secure, I can customize it for exactly what my client needs, my sites run faster and leaner, and I can make it super simple for my clients to update their own websites without breaking the look.
And yet, that’s not the first thing my customers care about when they hit my website.
So what is my opening line? One that focuses on the benefit to my customer – “Custom Websites that Help Grow Your Business”
I tell them exactly why they should care – my websites help grow their business.
Take a look at the main headline on your website. Does your ideal customer really care about what you’re saying?
Mistake #2: Not following web accessibility best practices
We talked about this more in depth just recently, but there are so many people who still discount digital accessibility.
Web Accessibility is all about making sure your website is useable by everyone. That means even those who browse the internet differently than you do, like through screen readers because they have visual impairments or they need closed captions because they have different hearing abilities.
Making your website accessible to everyone doesn’t take that much effort or time and it protects your business from future lawsuits.
Frankly, the reason so many websites fail in the web accessibility space right now is just laziness. Don’t let a few minutes of effort be the reason you can’t serve all of your potential customers.
Mistake #3: It’s Not Mobile Friendly
What happens when someone visits your website on their phone? Do they have a good experience that is similar to when they look at your site on their laptop or desktop?
Over 60% of Google searches are done through mobile devices and have been for years. What does that mean for you? It means your website better look great on a phone!
I often see especially DIY websites built in Wix and SquareSpace have not a great user experience on mobile. Website builders like that are great for the laptop layout, but they still treat the phone experience as secondary. Honestly, you should be worried about your mobile design first, then make it expand from there.
Mistake #4: It Takes More Than 3 Seconds to Load
If your website doesn’t load within 3 seconds, you’ll lose that customer. In fact, Google has found that if your site takes between 1 to 3 seconds to load, you have a 32% increased chance of losing that customer.
No one likes you enough to be patient for your complex website to load. Honestly, they have to be pretty determined to get to YOU to give you more than a couple of seconds. And think about when people are trying to load your website on their phone while they’re using spotty data. It takes even longer.
There are a few things that could be slowing down your website, but a lot is in how it’s built. The more complex the code and the features, the slower it’ll be. Videos, large images, and tons of animation will also slow it down.
Mistake #5: Not Following SEO On-Page Best Practices
There are a lot of things you can do wrong with a website, but this is a big one. You want your website to not only be found by but provided as a result by Google. Google just isn’t going to do that if you don’t do a few, simple things.
The cool thing here? A lot of the things you can do to improve your web accessibility also helps your on-page SEO so it’s really a win-win.
Your website though, has to start with being discoverable. You can do a lot with other digital marketing strategies to drive traffic to your website, but organic SEO (being found and listed by Google) has 20 times the traffic opportunity than paid strategies. Why? Because it can build and grow over time.
Don’t skimp on it!
The Other 5 Mistakes (and How to Fix Them All)
There are 5 other mistakes that I see all the time when auditing customers’ websites. They can impede not only your traffic, but your ability to warm up cold leads and get those final sales.
Want to know not only what those other 5 mistakes are but how to fix all of them? It’s time to grab the full list and my walkthrough guide of how you can fix them!
All you need to do is fill out your email below and you’ll get it straight to your inbox.
Let’s improve your website and start turning those hits into leads and sales!
