Sometimes, small businesses struggle for many years trying to get more customers. They have superior products and services but still fall behind their competitors. Their lack of success is majorly due to setting a poor website.
A nice-looking website may impress a few prospects, but it will only get a small business so far. Therefore, growing companies must learn about what makes a website attract thousands of clients.
Here are the seven sins of small business websites your company must avoid at all costs.
Bad User Experience
Online users are not likely to return to a website if it’s too confusing to navigate. One of the main goals of every small business – especially e-commerce – is building a site where users can find what they are searching for within two clicks.
However, there are more technical aspects that worsen user experience on a website, such as:
- Slow-loading times. Users want to find answers to their needs the fastest possible. Investing in a fast-loading site is non-negotiable.
- Unorganized home page. Home pages should make it easy for visitors to spend their money. Messy home pages cause prospects to think more about their purchase.
- Overwhelming sales pitch. Small businesses must find a balance between selling and providing value to prospects.
- Outdated content. A website is a powerful tool for brands to help users solve their questions. If you have outdated content, it can make your business look unprofessional.
Prospects will have a good impression of your business if you avoid these basic mistakes. Keep things simple with drop-down menus and the navigation process. Ask a tech-savvy person to navigate your site and give you their feedback about what can be improved.
Social Media Underuse
Millions of people have at least one social media account nowadays. What’s more, a large percentage of these people access these platforms on a daily basis. Therefore, not reaching people through social media means missing out on thousands of potential customers.
Social media helps drive traffic to your website. Besides, it’s free to use. Platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube can put small businesses on a fast track to success.
Even if businesses can’t convert too many followers into customers right away, social media spreads the word about your company. The more people recognize your brand, the more authority you gain in your field. As a result, users might turn up to you sooner rather than later.
Additionally, social media allows users to interact with your brand. People can comment on your posts, ask for help, and share posts with their friends. Consequently, users develop trust and engagement with your business, making them more likely to buy from you in the future.
Sharing your business’ information on multiple social media platforms is essential for reaching a bigger audience. And your website should be the first place to let people know about your online presence.
Not Building an Email List
Powerful brands make the most of their websites by including opt-in email marketing. Without this option, your business is missing out on a great marketing tool. Opt-in email marketing allows small businesses to build a list with hundreds or even thousands of prospects’ email addresses. In other words, brands can create a sales funnel.
Most brands persuade users to give them their email addresses by offering something valuable in exchange. Typically, weekly or monthly newsletters. However, these pieces of content don’t come alone. They come with the promotion of the company’s products and services.
Email lists deliver a significant share of many small businesses’ income around the world. They allow brands to stay somewhat in contact with prospects even after they leave their websites. Opt-in email marketing is a must for every small business building an online presence.
Providing Too Much Information
Long paragraphs are not engaging. Therefore, websites should avoid writing long texts as that could be overwhelming. Consequently, visitors might leave your website. The goal with a website is marketing your brand while not so much closing deals.
E-commerces are the only sites where owners can write long product descriptions. However, they still have to pursuit doing so in the most engaging way possible.
A website’s copy must have an enticing title and a body written in short paragraphs. Otherwise, studies suggest that people are likely to stop reading. Bullet points also make content more digestible for users.
Not Providing Enough Information
If you are a small company, providing first-time visitors with enough basic information is fundamental. Otherwise, your business might not appear as reliable to some users.
Adding a bit more content – especially content that helps users – can make your business look like an authority figure. Just make sure you don’t end up falling in the mistake of overwhelming users with excessively long texts.
Typically, landing pages fall between 250 and 500-words long.
Poor SEO Strategy
A small business website must seek to appear on the first page of search engines result pages. Otherwise, people will rarely see it and access it. For that purpose, growing websites must invest in an effective search engine optimization (SEO) strategy.
However, getting an SEO strategy wrong, it’s easier than people think. Sometimes, setting up a website with few or no SEO tactics won’t get your e-commerce far up. But going too far with SEO can hurt your site too.
Regarding SEO, focus on the basics, and Google will reward your website sooner or later with a first-page rank. Some basic but highly effective SEO actions include:
- Writing unique titles and meta descriptions
- Adding your site to Google Maps
- Including trending keywords across your content
Don’t follow the advice of agencies or companies that promise good rankings in no time. SEO requires patience. Unscrupulous tactics can be detrimental to a small business website.
Obsolete Information
Accessing a web page only to find outdated information can be discouraging. Besides, it might make potential customers question the reliability of your business.
Professional businesses always have up-to-date information on their websites. For that purpose, they regularly check posted content to find information that needs an update. What’s more, they have employees doing run-throughs to catch details overlooked by you.
