We all know that it’s important to put your best foot forward especially if it’s a job interview, first date or a meeting. Appearance is a key indicator to the state, condition or style that we appear and this outward look tells others a lot about ourselves. So, if these sensory aspects are so important for our own personal impressions, shouldn’t your website be the same for your business?
Your website is your business’s first impression and you need to make sure that your users absolutely love your website, and don’t hate it! In this article we will review the grueling things that people hate about your website and how to fix it.
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Loading… and loading… and loading
You spent a lot of time and money creating a beautiful website that really shows people what problems your company can solve, so how do you expect to increase sales if the pages don’t load and people keep leaving your website?
Americans have an extremely short attention span and it’s only shortening year over year. According to a report by KISSmetrics, 47% of consumers assume a page will load in two seconds or less and 40% will abandon a site if it doesn’t load in less than three seconds. At the end of the day, missed website visits can translate to missed sales.
Optimizing your loading time is extremely important in order to let your website visitors get to your website and avoid frustration. Fixing slow page load times and increasing site speed is a sure way to keep your website visitors happy. Images, videos and custom CSS can be the main culprits for slow load times. Audit your site by finding pages that have slow load times and consider removing excess images or videos.
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I Can’t Find What I Am Looking for!
The second reason why people hate your website is they can’t find what they are looking for. In a brick and mortar store your employees help customers find products and answer their questions, the same should be true for your website. If your users are unable to find what they are looking for, they will likely abandon your site and go to your competitor. By simply fixing your navigation and organizing your content in a logical system, you are providing a great experience and encouraging your visitor to spend more time on your site that hopefully leads to them choosing to do business with you.
In order to fix your navigation for optimal use, take all your pages and sort them into categories. Then, take these main categories and sort them by importance while considering how your visitor will navigate through the site. Remember to think about this from the visitors point of view and arrange your site to showcase what is important to them.
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This Site Isn’t Mobile Friendly?!
Everyone has a smart phone and we all use them to quickly find the closest restaurant, check out the best coffee shop or learn more about a product or service we need. If your site isn’t mobile friendly you are losing out on a huge portion of potential customers.
Take a look at your website on all different sized tablets and phones to make sure that your site is showing up properly. You will also want to check Search Console to make sure that Google is not penalizing you for not having a mobile-friendly site.
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Where is the Contact Info?
One of the most frustrating areas of a website can be your business’s contact us page. If your website visitors have to hunt down information just to get in contact with you they could end up leaving your site missing the opportunity to do business with you. Make sure that this page can be found in the main navigation or place your contact information in the header of your website.
Stream’s Kick-Start Step:
If you are a business owner and developed a product or service, you likely used a focus group to test your products or services and adjusted them accordingly. Why not use a focus group to improve your website? Apply the tips above and then select a group of participants, choose a moderator, collect your data and implement the feedback to improve your website!
There are many different things that can make people despise your site. By paying attention to all of the items listed above you are well on your way to creating a positive user-experience that coincides with the experience you offer your customers on the phone and in your store. Put your best foot forward online and make your potential leads absolutely love your website!
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Happy marketing,
Christina
— Christina Davidson is an SEO Content Strategist at Stream Companies, a full-service Philadelphia-area advertising agency.