Critical Website Mistakes that Drive Clients Away

Why isn't my website acquiring new clients? This is one of the frequent questions asked by small business owners. And while speaking with them, we find same problems with most of other small businesses websites.

We have taken the 10 most common mistakes that small businesses make on their websites and show you how it can be fixed.

Most of these mistakes are simple, even self-explanatory. But, we kept finding them over and over again on almost every business owners websites.

Take the time to go through this article and look at your own website. Chances are, you are making at least one of the mistakes.

The purpose of this article is to show you how to make some simple changes on your website that in the long run will increase the number of clients.

You have a great message that needs to get out. And, there is someone out there that needs your services.

We have also included a checklist at the end of this article to help you improve your website. Also, we have a resource section in the last section of this article where we list all of the sites and resources you can use to help build a better website.

If you have any questions about this article, please contact at klickdigital@klick-digital.online.

Mistake #1. You don't have a Website

It surprises me to this day, most small businesses do not even have a website. Let me ask you the question: Do you use yellow pages or google everyday to find things?

The top reasons small businesses don't have a Website.

1. Its Expensive - For some reason owners have it in their head that it will cost thousand of dollars a year to have a great website. Back in 1990's it would have cost between $5000 and $10000 for a good website. But today, this is not the case. You can purchase a domain name for around $12 a year and hosting for as low as $4 a month. For less than $5 a month you can have your own website.
2. Its too Hard - Many people buy a domain name and never do anything with it. Then, the domain name expire, and they forget about ever having their own website. You can contact us to set up your website for a very reasonable fee.
3. Worried about uploading wrong content - The beautiful thing about the website is, its adaptable. You can always change or re-purpose content. It easy to fix anything wrong on your website. If your landing page is not getting conversions you can always tweak it.
4. Don't Set it forget it - You are not cooking steam fish. You are informing and demonstrating to prospective clients why you are the obvious choice. If your site is not updated on a regular basis people will think you are not longer in business.

Mistake #2. Your main page (home page) is confusing to a prospective client

Your homepage (main page) is the first place and most visited page of your website. It is the root page, the most important element of your website. It's where people are getting one of their first impression. The purpose of the home page is to introduce your brand, showcase your products or services, built trust and help visitors navigate. If your home page is not laid out the right way, new visitors will not be inclined to stay and view the rest of your website.

To design an effective home page you need to accomplish 12 components in a certain order.

1. Headlines - Within 3 seconds, a website needs to tell visitors what does your company do?.
2. Sub Headline - Below your headline, your sub-headline should offer a brief description of what you offer.
3. Primary Call to Action - Below your sub headline include a call-to-action (CTA) that compels visitors to dig deeper into your website.
4. Describe Your Product Services - What are the main product or services you offer? Describe with a short description of each product that you're selling, and a learn more button that directs them to the separate sales page that lists all the details of that particular product.
5. About us Page - The purpose of about us page is a formal introduction, a short bio of your company. The bio needs to be concise, right to the point, emphasizing who you are, what you stand for and why should choose your over your competitions.
6. Social Proof / Testimonials - Social proof builds trust. Include quotes, names and photos of your happy clients.
7. Contact us Page - Contact us page should have a form that visitors can fill out, submit it, to get more information.
8. Blog Page - A blog is simply a page where you update visitors on the happenings in your businesses. Your blog is a way to get information out about your business. Google tends to took favorably on blogs and ranks them quickly in the search listings. A good rule of thumb on updating with new content is at least one new blog post a week, minimum.

Mistake #3. Your website does not have a clear purpose.

Your website is a place for prospective clients to find you and make a decision if your product or services is right for them. When creating content for visitors, always write from the prospect's point of view. They want to know what's in for me (WIIFM). If they don't find solution to their problem, they will leave your website. Your website should change, evolve and grow as your business grows.

Mistake #4. Your are using a generic email address.

Never use a Gmail, or Yahoo email address on your website or marketing materials. Custom email addresses convert better than generic ones. If you see the following email addresses, which looks more professional? name@gmail.com or name@klick-digital.in

Mistake #5. People cannot find your website.

You need customers to be able to find your website in Google search results, if they can't find, they can't buy your product or services. Many small business websites do not have the right keywords, even if few of them have, they are not optimized correctly, making it difficult for Google to understand the content and rank it accordingly. The result? Your website is invisible in Google searches.

Mistake #6. You are not capturing visitors information.

By having an opt-in form in your website, you'll be able to capture visitors information like their name and email address. With this information, your email autoresponder can maintain a list of visitors and send them on regular basis email newsletters - info about your product, services, discounts, developments and build relationships.

Mistake #7. Your graphics stink.

Small businesses are usually on a tight budget, they use blurry images, too much text and colors involved. It conveys a lack of imagination and present a false image of a company. Instead, hire a graphic designer, shot useful photos of your products or services, use short punch sentences to get the point across, try to stick with the basic or primary colors. It will make your company feel real and add credibility in a big way.

Mistake #8. You have not social media strategy.

The main thing about social media is to have a realistic goals and expectations. Having a social media presence can help you increase your brand awareness, increase your website traffic, control your reputation or develop targeted advertisements.

Important points about social media.

1. The key to making social media work is to make it about relationships.
2. Cultivate 5 new relationships on social media sites over the next 3 months. Start conversation with new people.
3. Set aside few minutes a day to do social media postings that appeals to your business.
4. Leverage your blogs and content through social media. Post a snippet of your recent blog or content in the groups you belong to.
5. Keep your social media posting consistent. Steady and consistent posting builds your credibility.

Mistake #9. Your website, purpose and message are in-appropriate:.

When you design a website, you make sure that everything: pictures, product, offers, programs and website content are congruent to your purpose. Mistakes most businesses do is promote things that are not related to their main business. They insert photos of people who are not their ideal clients - gender, race and age differs. If you website is about coaching retired, professional women, then your photos need to be of retired, professional women.

Mistake #10. You are not testing to see what works.

You work hard to get your website up and look right, but you do not set up the process to monitor your website. You have no way of knowing how many people are visiting your website, what pages they are navigating to and how long they are staying. Google Analytics is the free tool that will monitor the number of visitors, unique or repeat, the pages they visit, time they spend on your website. Explore Google Analytics https://analytics.withgoogle.com.

These are the 10 most common mistakes that I see on small businesses website. My purpose is not to make you feel bad, but to help you have a better and more successful business website. Now that you know what mistakes are, you may contact us to fix your website and have a website audit done.