You spent countless hours designing your business website. You carefully chose every image and word, created a beautiful layout, and included all the information a customer might need. Still, no one is buying anything.
What’s the deal?
It might be that one of those design elements you thought was so fantastic is actually driving your audience nuts. It’s ok – it happens to the best of us.
What You’re Doing Wrong
Here’s a list of five annoying things you might be doing on your website (and how to fix them):
1.“Salesy” copy
Nobody wants to go to your website and feel like you’re jamming a sales pitch down their throat. Even your promotional content shouldn’t sound too much like you’re trying to make a sale. Audiences want conversational, authentic sounding content. With that in mind, use these tips to write copy your audience will love:
- Always start with your “why.” Do you want to help your audience overcome a particular struggle? Shed light on a little-known issue? How do you want to make a difference in the world?
- Tell stories. We don’t mean fairytales or Cinderella-type stuff. We mean share a personal story or anecdote, a case study, or even something that’s trending in the news to grab the reader’s heart and draw them in.
- Highlight benefits rather than features. For example, if you sell umbrellas, a feature might be that they have unbreakable spokes. A benefit would be that they keep you dry, even in the harshest weather.
- Know your audience. In the end, there is no copy that is “wrong.” Some audiences respond to “salesy” copy, so it comes down to knowing your audience and what they like.
2. Annoying pop-ups
We’ve all visited websites where a pop-up appears immediately and blocks everything you were looking at. There is nothing more annoying than an in-your-face “Want a free consultation” or “Last day to sign up!” when you’re trying to search for content.
Even worse? When you can’t figure out how to “x” out of those pop-ups.
You may think your ads are going to convince your audience to sign up for your deal or contact you for a consultation, but you’re really just irritating them.
3. Cheesy stock photos
You know what they say: a picture is worth a thousand words. Most business owners would do anything to increase traffic, grow leads, and get more sales . . . but they’re still using terrible, poor-quality stock photos on their websites. Or worse, downloading shots from Google Images that may or may not be fair use.
You don’t have to avoid stock photos altogether, but make sure the images you source reflect your brand and what you offer. In addition, they should be high-resolution and free of blur or noise. Also, don’t be afraid to take your own photos! Your audience will likely love seeing some behind-the-scenes shots.
4. Your site isn’t mobile friendly
80% of Internet users today browse from their smartphone – so if your site isn’t optimized for mobile, you’re likely missing out. In addition, mobile responsiveness is a key ranking factor in Google’s search engine results – and if you don’t show up in search engine results, you’re missing out on even more potential visitors.
Bottom line? Make sure your site is fully responsive, so visitors can access it no matter what sort of device they’re on. If you’re unsure of where you stand, use Google’s mobile-friendly test to score your site.
5. Broken links
It’s not surprising that broken links annoy visitors. After all, how do you feel when you read about a really exciting story, try to click over to read it, and . . . nothing?
Broken links interrupt the user experience and can ultimately result in lost prospects or visitors. Use a plugin in like Broken Link Checker or WP Broken Link Status Checker to get notified whenever there is a broken link on your pages or in your posts.
Final Thoughts
Bottom line: you should constantly be working to improve and update your website. This list is only a small snippet of the things that warrant review. If you haven’t gone through your site in a while to check for glitches, outdated design features, or missing elements, do it today!
