3 Website Mistakes That Might Be Driving Customers Away
For a lot of us, our website is the gateway for people to hire us. It’s our welcome mat, inviting people into our “shop” or our space so they can view our products, services, get to know us, see our work, and (hopefully) hire us.
But what if you have a lot of web traffic but no sales? Or, what if you have NO web traffic, but you want sales?
I’m going to lay out 3 major mistakes you may be making if you don’t have any sales through your site and how to fix them.
1. Your homepage is cluttered
People are busy and (sorry to say it) selfish.
When people land on a site, they need to know IMMEDIATELY what you do and how you can help them.
They don’t have time to scroll through and read every paragraph you have written to find out the answer like a treasure hunt.
You need to, in a matter of seconds, communicate quickly and effectively what you do and how your product or service benefits your customer.O
As Donald Miller of StoryBrand says, “it’s not that people are lazy, it’s just that they don’t have a lot of time, and you need to be the one to do the work FOR them.”
Take action:
Take a look at your homepage. Does it communicate succinctly what you do and how you benefit your customer?
2. Your photos are unprofessional
A picture can say a thousand words and you want to make sure the message is loud and clear that you are professional, capable and reliable.
If you’re using photos with bad lighting, are out of focus or poorly styled, people may think you’re unprofessional or worse, inexperienced.
Your photos play a huge role in the credibility of your service.
This goes for the photos on your homepage all the way to the headshot on your About page. Make sure you’re using photos that represent the quality of your work well.
Take action:
Review all the photos on your website. How do they stack up against professional photos? Find out what brand photography is all about.
3. You don't have a clear path for your visitor
Do you want people to sign up for your newsletter list? Are you wanting people to book your services? Buy a product? Read your blog?
You have to know that path you want your visitor to take and be very clear on how to lead them in that path.
Think of this as you leading someone by the hand throughout your site from the intro to the about page to your services to your contact page. You never want a visitor of your site to get to the bottom of a page and not know where to go.
You are the guide leading them through.
Likewise, you don’t want to bombard them with too many choices. If you have many avenues to your business you want to briefly state the choices (no more than 3 or 4) and show them where they can click to learn more about each topic.
Take action:
Start at the homepage of your site and take the path you want your visitor to take. Do you come to a dead end? Are you left on the portfolio page not knowing what to do? Make sure each page has a “next step” button of where you want them to go.
Would you like an honest review of your website? I would love to offer a free website walkthrough where I give you honest feedback on the usability and ease of your site. If you're interested, reach out to me here!
Is your website making some of these mistakes?
What are some other problems you face with your site?
