10 Reasons Why Your Website Doesn’t Work

The web is one of the most powerful places for communicating with potential clients and your website is often your company’s primary representative. Within seconds, visitors evaluate your business based exclusively on this virtual representation of your company. Your website is a statement about your business; in today’s technology-driven world, it practically is your business. Today more than ever, business owners are turning to the web to evaluate products, services, and make business decisions. How confident are you that your website will bring them your way? More importantly, ask yourself this simple question: “Is my business getting measurable benefits from my website?” If your answer is “no” or “I don’t know” then your website simply doesn’t work. Find out why

You don’t know what you want your website to do

Before anything else, determine what it is you want your website to do for your business. Do you want to get more people to sign up for your monthly newsletter, download your recent white paper, generate more leads, create more revenue or even launch new products and services? Don’t let the details trip you up. While flashy graphics, 3D media, music, and design may be important, businesses with websites that work are thinking about the bigger questions.

Too many people involved

Your website should be a marketing driven activity with collaboration from IT and any other internal stakeholders. In the end, a point person or dedicated resource should be in place to manage web-based business goals that are part of an overall interactive marketing strategy. A fragmented approach to web management is just that – fragmented, and it shows in the final product.

You don’t update your website

Did your business die two years ago? According to your website it did, because that was the last time you updated it. Relevant, up to date, accurate, and valuable content is the most important determinant for a successful website. Your website should be engaging, active, and dynamic…the same ways you would hopefully describe your business.

You don’t tell your visitors what to do

Tell your visitors what you want them to do when they visit your page. “Sign up here”, “Click here”, “Download now”,” View our whitepaper”, “Subscribe to our newsletter”, “Contact us”, and “Buy now” should be part of your website’s vocabulary. Take a look at your site to see if anything’s missing.

Your website is not accountable

Your website should be treated as a member of your sales organization and be held accountable for generating leads and increasing overall sales revenues for your business. Your website should be your “Salesman of the Century.”

You don’t know anything about your visitors

Measure and understand how visitors use the site to make strategic business decisions using centralized web analytics and measurement software. Web analytics allow you to measure and analyze visitor behavior, assess search campaign performance, and overall website ROI. Learn where your visitors come from on the web and how they interact with your site.

Your website might as well be in another language

Your visitors and users should immediately understand your business. Finding the information and products they are looking for should be a “no-brainer.” If it takes minutes and multiple clicks for visitors to understand your business, products, and services, you don’t stand a good chance of getting them to buy from or contact you. Remember, simplicity sells.

You are not dedicated to the effort

Overnight explosions of web traffic are not the norm, despite what you might read in the press. A successful web strategy requires planning, incremental improvement, and most of all dedication. Utilize basic executive web reports and comparative analysis reports to point out key markers for performance that relate to your overall web traffic. Establish baseline measures to track overall progress and introduce more advanced web initiatives into your web strategy as you advance. If you want a successful site, you must be willing to put in the time and effort.

Your website is invisible

Engaging in regular SEO practices will make it possible to appear in top search engine placements for keywords that buyers and influencers in your industry use to find content and services related to your organization.

It’s too difficult to use

If your website is too difficult to use…forget it! Don’t pass go and do not collect $200. A website that isn’t user friendly will not only deter possible visitors, but might also potentially damage your company’s credibility. Make sure that your visitors can navigate your site as easily and efficiently as possible.

If you’re one of many business owners whose website doesn’t work, then use these 10 tips as a starting point for getting in the game with a web-related business strategy. It’s not enough to just simply “have” a website today; it’s a business crucial tool, and you can’t afford to miss out on its possible benefits. For more questions about this article please contact dziewacz@everonit.com.

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