7 REASONS YOUR WEBSITE IS NOT CONVERTING

So you’ve built your website, you’ve spent time on creating compelling copy, maybe even poured your heart out with a personal story to connect with your audience. You’ve been doing the work to get noticed and you’re starting to get traffic.

But…so few of your visitors are converting into customers! What’s the deal?

There are several key reasons why your conversion rate is low and bounce rate is high. If you’re having trouble getting visitors to stick around, consider whether you're making any of the following mistakes to cause them to leave your website without converting.

1. YOUR SITE IS SLOW

Did you know that 47% of users will ditch a site if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load? Any longer than that (even one more second delay) and they’re already dissatisfied by 16%.

It might sound crazy, but it’s true. Your website needs to be fast. People are not patient these days; they want everything instantly because their time is precious. If they have to wait for your site to load, a lot of them will lose interest and be gone before you know it. (Incidentally, this is one of the many reasons why I prefer Squarespace over WordPress!)

2. TOO MANY DISTRACTING ADS

If your site is loaded with flashing ads on top, bottom and sides, it will instantly feel spammy.

What that means is people will be wary of you and might even question whether they can trust you. Flashy ads give the impression of desperation. They kind of scream “Buy here, click here” and nobody likes that because well…it’s annoying.

Not to mention distracting! If you have a ton of ads that make your visitors click away from your site, chances are you’ve lost them for good. So take it easy on the ads and only place a few throughout your content strategically. And please, for the love of online business, make sure to set up your ad links in such a way that they open up in new tabs! That way at least they can still easily come back to your site, which is where you should try to keep them in the first place.

3. CONFUSING NAVIGATION

The best advice I ever heard when it comes to designing the navigation menu was to always be clear over clever.

You may think it’s cute to give your pages funky names but in reality, it just confuses your visitors. Make your navigation clear and easy to understand so that your people are not wondering what’s what and can easily find what they’re looking for on your site.

Also, don’t hide your menu. Nobody wants to dig around looking for the main navigation. This is why I’m actually not a big fan of those “hamburger” type menu bars because they hide what you have to offer! There have been a few times when I was on a site like that and it honestly annoyed me that I had to click an extra button each time I wanted to see what other pages there were to explore. As I said, people are impatient.

Most importantly, make it easy for people to contact you! Do not make them chase you. If they have a question and can’t find your contact form or email address, why should they stick around?

4. POORLY WRITTEN COPY

This is one of the fastest ways to diminish your site’s credibility. If your content is full of grammar and spelling errors, inconsistent language and ideas, or even spacing issues, people will instantly assume you’re not a professional.

This isn’t to say that if you make an occasional spelling error, your reputation is over. But, do your best to have as few of those as possible.

Always proofread your copy at least once (or twice) and install a tool like Grammarly on your computer. Honestly, even though I’m usually pretty good at spelling and grammar, it has helped me catch a few errors that I didn’t notice due to fast typing!

5. NOT MOBILE FRIENDLY

The world is going mobile and according to research done by Mobify, “30% of mobile shoppers abandon a transaction if the experience is not optimized for mobile.”

Need I say more? I think I’m going to leave it at that. Make sure your site design is responsive!

6. NOT ENOUGH CONTENT

By now, you’ve probably heard that people buy from people they know, like, and trust. In order to establish trust with your audience, you need to tell them as much about you and your company as possible.

Make your About page connect with people, and give them a reason to trust you. Tell your story, so they know where you’re coming from. Share your beliefs and values. Get a little personal, so they know there’s a human being behind your brand.

Also, keep in mind they’re always thinking about what’s in it for them. It’s human nature. So make sure to update your site with fresh content regularly so they have something to keep coming back to.

The best way to keep your visitors coming back is to have a blog with regular updates. But you need a way to remind them of new posts, so make sure to capture their email address with a lead magnet, so that you can send them a note when you have something new to share.

7. POOR OR OUTDATED DESIGN

I saved the best for last because your web design is the biggest overall factor that will impact your site's success.

In fact, 94% of first impressions are design related! If your website feels old and dated, you will immediately lose credibility. It gives visitors the impression that you don’t put enough effort into your business. They may even question if you’re still relevant!

In this case, people definitely “judge books by their covers” and there’s no escaping it. You need to be prepared. Appearances do matter here a lot. The impact a site’s design can have on its perceived trustworthiness is huge.

By the way, if I have to squint my eyes to read some tiny font (that’s light and has a distracting background), I’m out of there. I’ve been on sites like that a few times and I got impatient very quickly, so I didn’t bother to stick around and strain my eyes. Would you?

IS IT TIME TO REDESIGN YOUR WEBSITE?

Your website is one of the most important parts of your business strategy. It can be a powerful tool in generating awareness for your company as well as increasing business opportunities for growth. It should present a positive, professional image and appeal to its specific audience.

Your customers might think that you don’t care much about the quality of products you sell if you don’t care about putting an effort into your overall brand.

It’s best practice to update your website every couple of years to keep it fresh and attention-grabbing to users as trends in web design are constantly changing.