For a lot of people, your website is their first impression of your business, and it can decide whether they reach out or move on.
Plenty of small businesses hold themselves back with sites that are slow, confusing or not built to bring in work. The good part is that the usual mistakes are fixable once you know what to look for.
Here are five we see all the time, and how to fix each one.
1. It doesn’t work well on a phone
Most web traffic now comes from phones. If people have to pinch, zoom or scroll sideways, you could be losing half your visitors before they see what you offer.
Fix it by:
- Using a responsive design that adapts to any screen size
- Testing on several devices and browsers
- Simplifying menus and using big, easy-to-tap buttons
People expect a site to work on their phone. Most won’t give you a second chance.
2. It loads too slowly
If your site takes more than about three seconds to load, a lot of people leave. Slow pages also hurt your search rankings.
Fix it by:
- Compressing images before uploading
- Removing plugins and code you don’t need
- Using a content delivery network (CDN)
- Testing speed with PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix
3. There’s no clear next step
If your site doesn’t tell people what to do, they won’t do anything. Whether you want them to book a call, request a quote or sign up for emails, that action needs to be obvious.
Fix it by:
- Using clear buttons like “Book now” or “Get a free quote”
- Putting them near the top of the page and again further down
- Keeping it to one main action per page
4. The design is too busy
Lots of colors, animations and features usually backfire. They overwhelm visitors and bury your message.
Fix it by:
- Removing anything that doesn’t have a clear job
- Sticking to consistent fonts, colors and spacing
- Giving content room to breathe
- Making the order of the page obvious at a glance
Clean, focused sites tend to bring in more inquiries.
5. It ignores SEO
A beautiful website doesn’t help if nobody finds it. Search engine optimization (SEO) is how the right people find you when they’re already looking.
Fix it by:
- Using the words your customers search for (think “bookkeeper in Cambridge”)
- Writing a title and description for each page
- Linking related pages to each other
- Claiming your Google Business Profile and working on local search
If you want more visitors from Google, SEO has to be part of the plan. Our SEO checklist is a good place to start.
The short version
You don’t need a flashy website. You need one that’s fast, clear and easy to act on. Fix these five and your site starts bringing in leads instead of just existing.
If you’d like these fixed for you, our website packages cover each one. And while you’re at it, check that your contact form is reaching you.
Need help cleaning up your site? Book a free 20-minute call and we’ll tell you which of these to fix first.
