Is Your Website Killing Your Conversions?
You’ve put a great deal of time and effort into creating your website. Considering it is your company’s virtual calling card and 24/7 sales person, it has to be just right – but is it? Is your website encouraging conversions or is it killing them? Take a look at these common conversion killers and see if your site is running off potential customers.
Slow to Load
Today’s customer does not like to wait – neither do the search engines. A website that takes a long time to load will not only turn away customers, they won’t rank as well with the search engines. Graphics are usually the culprit for slow loading sites. Photos that are sized improperly, excessively large images files, and website with heavy graphics can make load times slow causing customers to click off and visit your competitors’ site.
Non-Responsive Design
If your customers can’t view your website on whatever device they are using they are going to go find a site that does. Responsive web design is absolutely essential to conversions. There was a time when it wasn’t all that important, but with the emergence of smartphones, tablet, and other forms of mobile technology as well as their exponential popularity explosion, you can’t ignore it.
Confusing Navigation
There are few things more frustrating than clicking onto a website only to find yourself unable to find the information you need. Navigation should not be confusing; it should be straightforward and visitors should have no difficulty finding what they want. You don’t have to have a complex website in order for it to be professional and look great. In fact, the more you lean toward simplicity, the more appealing it is to your customers.
No or Poorly Placed Calls to Action
Your customers are not mind readers. When they visit your site they need to know what you want them to do. If they have to hunt for your call to action – or there is no clear call to action at all – you are cheating yourself and turning away your customers. Ideally, you want your call to action to be highly visible, above the fold and it should be worded so that it is easily understood. Make sure that your CTA is easy to find and easy to see.
Complex or Poor Design
Complicated designs might look good, in theory, but they are highly impractical and huge conversion killers. A poorly designed site may be slow loading, confusing, or it simply may not work. High conversion websites are finely tuned and are typically an ongoing project. An effective website is updated frequently and is simple in design.
Your website should work for you, not against you. If you want it to encourage conversions then you need to put forth the time and effort to do it right. If you are not well versed in creating a highly effective site for conversions then you may want to enlist the help of a digital marketing professional. Your website is too important to ignore this crucial element.
