Top 5 Website Killers

Websites are no longer just a copy of your brochure. Like going to a shop or meeting a sales representative, your potential customers want to be able to listen, interact and discuss your products and services with you through your website.

In fact, by the time you speak to a potential customer, the chances are, they’re already a good way through their customer journey.  Your website is the ultimate shop window.  It takes a careful balance of images, well-crafted copy, slick functionality, interactive features and effective SEO to make it an asset to your business.

You are probably doing a lot of this, but here are some website killers that many people fall into:

 1. Lacking Purpose

Does your website have a clear purpose?  Website visitors should be intrigued and instantly understand your site’s purpose.

Avoid the temptation of treating your website like an online brochure or digital business card.  Add a simple call-to-action to encourage visitors to make an inquiry.

Your website is an asset and should be used as a lead generation platform or sales tool.

2. Poor Content, Design & Navigation

Avoid clutter –  it’s confusing and hard work on the eyes.  Keep content and navigation simple, direct and easy to skim.  Stick to tried and tested structures, and familiar terminology so visitors don’t need to dig around for information.

SEO is important, but do not get bogged down with key words and unreadable text.  Your content needs to be relevant and frequently updated. This is crucial for Google and other search engine rankings.  It is important you find the balance of not having too much or too little content.

Ensure the information on your website is legible and does not contain broken links, or useless 404 error pages – this will disappoint visitors.

3. Not-Mobile Optimised

Globally, more websites are viewed on mobile devices and tablets than desktops but despite this, many SMEs and retailers have websites not designed for phones and tablets.

Your website must cater for all device types, commonly known as “Responsive Design”.

4. You Can’t Be Reached

‘Contact Us’ plays an important role and what’s more, it should be easy to find (i.e. 5 seconds) – give visitors an obvious way to contact you, you don’t want to lose them to a competitor.

Social media integration is also a powerful engagement tool in creating dialogue and building trust with visitors – make sure your links work and potential customers are encouraged to engage with you.

Having a website without any contact information or a way for visitors to directly engage with you is a wasted resource.

5. Not Tried and Tested!!

Do not underestimate the importance of testing, testing and testing again, on a variety of devices and browsers before going live.  For example, what might work on Google Chrome might not work on Safari.

It is important to know your website is free from any annoying glitches.

Your website health check should look at the following: 

• Does it load in less than three seconds?
• Do your key selling points or messages stand out?
• Is the content easy to read?
• Is it easy to navigate?
• Is it easy to recognise and activate the call to action?
• Does it provide a good user experience?
• Is it a website you would spend time if it was not your own?
• Are you acting on gathered data and analysed information? (e.g. Google Analytics)
• Can potential customers easily reach you?

At Onyx Health, we understand the importance of your digital assets to help grow your business, contact us.  Why not check out our latest how-to-guides here to see more of our top tips.