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28 Reasons Your Website Isn’t Bringing in New Business

Common Issues with ContentIt’s boring. Does your website sound like this? “Hi, we provide the best customer service and highest quality products around. Buy from us today!” Snooze-fest. Everyone’s site says that.

It’s out of date. The deal from 3 months ago is still being advertised! Your hours aren’t accurate. The map isn’t accurate. What a hassle for the website visitor to get basic information.

There’s no useful information on it. The site is filled with generic marketing fluff used on every

other site out there. There are no humanizing elements or information that shows how you are different from your competitor down the street.

Visitors don’t know what you do. Ever been to a site where you can’t

exactly tell what the company does? Website visitors form a first impression in fractions of a second. If your website visitor doesn’t understand your business in a few seconds, they’re likely to leave and find a site that is more easily understood.

Common Issues with DesignThe site ignores design conventions. Everyone wants their site to stand out in a crowd, to ‘pop.’ But ignoring design conventions forces the visitor search harder for the information they want and need. Web users want information easily, conveniently and instantly. Check out Don’t Make Me Think by

Steve Krug for more information.

Site looks unprofessional. High quality images matter! Low quality images show that you don’t care about investing in your own brand. Why, then, should anyone work with you?

Website looks like someone’s nephew designed it. Or it was originally designed in 2000. Or the web designer’s recommendations were ignored.

Common Issues with SEOIt’s disorganized. Organization serves two purposes.

• First, it’s helpful for visitors to find their way around the site. When information is categorized and organized logically,

visitors can go where they need to go, to get the information they want.

• Second, organization helps search engines understand and categorize your site. Ultimately, if the search engines have difficulty understanding your site, they won’t spend time figuring it out. They’ll just ignore your site - not display it in search results. There are plenty of

existing websites that search engines can send users to, that are easily understood, well organized and effectively categorized.

It’s not optimized. If your website is not optimized for search engines, you’re missing a huge opportunity to increase

visibility. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of improving the visibility of your site in search results. Showing up in search results is the only way customers (and prospective customers) can find your website – unless they have your exact website address.

Multiple websites split traffic in multiple directions. If your company operates as one company, with one set of products or services that all fall under one umbrella, you’re shooting yourself in the foot by having two websites with identical or nearly identical information on them. In similar fashion to a site that’s disorganized, there are a number of disadvantages. Firstly, it’s confusing and irritating for users. They can’t tell which website is the ‘official’ website. Secondly, search engines get confused. If the search engine is confused about which site is associated with 867-5309 phone number and 123 E Main Street, AnyTown, USA business address (as both items are listed on the two websites) – it’s possible neither of your sites will show up in search.

Search engines can’t understand it. There are some website design platforms (most notably Flash) that make it very difficult for search engines to understand what your website is about. And as mentioned, if search engines can’t tell what

your site is about, they just won’t show it in search results.

Domain has a penalty. Domain penalties can occur when your website doesn’t follow best practices. Trying to “game the system” or employing less than ethical strategies to trick search engines into displaying your website are not looked upon kindly and can get you into serious trouble. It can take a great deal of time and money to correct a domain penalty, and all the while your website isn’t showing up in search results.

Visit townsquareinteractive.com to get started online or call 855-493-2435

townsquareinteractive.com | @TS_Interactive | facebook.com/townsquareinteractive | 855-493-2435

Your domain is brand new/lacks authority. Domains earn authority over time. Initially, your website may not show up for many of your products and services because the search engine doesn’t know your site well enough.

If you stick with it and trust your SEO, this should change. But keep in mind that all scenarios are different. Success in SEO hinges on over 200 different factors!

No fresh content on it. A factor in search engine optimization – Content! If your website content hasn’t been refreshed recently, the search engine may consider your website less relevant to searchers than a more up-to-date website. Consider the search engine’s perspective – they’re in the business of providing search results that answer a searcher’s queries. If results don’t provide high quality, relevant information, how long before users turn to another search service?

Common Issues with SocialAs far as social goes, you’re not on the map. Users now look to social media to see what a company is really like. When attempting to personalize

their operations, savvy businesses know that there’s no better way to achieve this than through the use of social media like Facebook and Twitter.

There are no reviews. Most consumers are now doing some form of research before making a purchasing decision. Their research is done online. Consumers look at social media profiles and review content. They look at the experiences other customers have had.

Social profiles aren’t set up correctly. This is a missed opportunity to provide information to your fans and followers. All profile sections should be filled out completely.

Social profiles don’t contain contact information or your website. Another scenario where users may want to find out information about your business, but can’t! We see social profiles that don’t contain phone numbers, websites, addresses or hours.

Common Issues with Website ConversionNo Calls-To-Action. There’s nothing on your site compelling visitors to reach out to your company for

more information or to work with you. A Call-To-Action (CTA) asks the viewer to call, subscribe, get started, earn rewards, email, get in touch, save now – asks visitors to take some sort of action on your website.

No lead capture forms on your site . If you’re not collecting information from website visitors, you’re missing another chance to convert business.

Your phone number is not listed. Believe it or not, some small business websites don’t even include a phone number!

Contact information is buried 3 pages deep. If it’s difficult for a visitor to find your phone number or contact form, most web visitors will just give up, and find a different company.

Common Issues with Website FunctionalityIt’s not easy to use. Visitors to the site can’t find the information they want or need to know about the business.

Your site automatically starts playing music. Auto play music was cool for about 14 days more than 10 years ago - most visitors look for the stop button immediately when they hear audio playing automatically. How many times have you been in a public place and been frantically looking for the stop or mute button when audio has started? Website visitors like audio and video, but let them choose when to engage with it.

There are error pages. Pages on your website have moved around and users aren’t being redirected appropriately. High frustration factor.

There are broken links and images. This error fits into a couple of categories (functionality and design). The outcome is a lack of professionalism that turns off website visitors.

The site isn’t optimized for use on mobile devices. Again, users will find a different site if your website isn’t

easy to use on a mobile phone or tablet.

The site takes a long time to load. This kicks up the annoyance factor. Slow website load speed is a killer.

Visit townsquareinteractive.com to get started online or call 855-493-2435

This list isn’t comprehensive – there are dozens of reasons your site might not be performing. As with most professions, we’d have to take a look under the hood, so to speak, to get an idea of why your website isn’t performing. The culprit could be your site itself, or there could be an issue with your web presence overall.