Unsure whether your web design and development are working? After being called numerous times to fix websites for our clients, we’ve noticed common trends among dysfunctional sites. Look for these six signs in your business website that indicate it isn’t working and it’s time for an update:
1. Your Website Doesn’t Show up on Search Results
This is an easy check; search for keywords that your business should rank for. Not ranking on SERPs is a prominent issue and is an all-hands-on-deck situation. If customers can’t find you online, all the time and resources you’ve spent on your website are wasted.
While this is a major problem, you may find that you did nothing wrong. Search engine optimization, or SEO, is a significant component that affects your position in search results. For instance:
- Being listed on the 100th page might be acceptable if your site was launched recently.
- However, if your website has been around for decades and is still on the 100th search page, there’s something going on.
Note that your SEO efforts take roughly 3 to 6 months to propagate across search engines. So, a third outcome could very well be a timing issue.
Beyond timing, you can control other areas, such as no indexing, website configurations, and compliance with search engine requirements. Get these right because one wrong setting can penalize, or even worse, remove your website from SERPs! If you’re unsure what the problem could be, we can help! Schedule a free consultation to discover the root cause of why your website isn’t appearing on search engines.
2. Your Bounce Rate is High / Your Average Engagement Time is Low
Google defines bounce rate as the number of visitors who leave your website within the first 5 seconds. It’s a legacy metric, but a high bounce rate indicates that your website doesn’t resonate with searchers. This could be from:
- Your website does not match search intent (ie, dog food shows up for cat food)
- Your website is confusing (ie, dog food does not have copy or images that match)
Guess what a high bounce rate does to your search ranking? It drops! Similarly, a low average engagement time (the time your website was in focus by a customer) will do the same.
To combat high bounce rates / low engagement times, you must create a compelling headline that customers see first. You may also need to rework your web design to improve the customer experience. If you’re in a tech-lagging industry, don’t forget to add the next generation of decision-makers to your marketing mix: the young digital buyers.
3. Your Website Traffic is Healthy, but You Face Conversion Issues
If you have decent web traffic, your next problematic area might be website conversions. Low conversion event counts, like form submissions or meeting bookings, may indicate poor web design. Your website must capture customer pain points through web design, copywriting, calls to action, and the customer journey. Additionally, you may need to revise your marketing strategy to refine product offerings, pricing, and other workflows for optimal website conversions.
Unsure of where to start? Consult with an expert web development team to help diagnose conversion problems.
4. Your Website Experience Might Feel Underwhelming
We use “underwhelming” because customers will have different digital expectations. You can’t satisfy everyone, but you should do your best to satisfy their bare minimum for web design. Below are a few underwhelming issues that can turn off customers:
- A website that doesn’t actually solve their problem.
- A website that feels gimmicky.
- A website that offers something too good to be true, so what’s the catch?
- A website that requires a heavy commitment, such as a credit card, before anything else is done.
- A website that feels dated for your buyer’s segment.
The quickest way to determine whether your website is underwhelming is to ask your existing customers what they think. Better yet, catch the customers who’ve told you no and ask why they went with a competitor. Fix any problems that you uncover through these discussions.
5. You Aren’t Capturing Website Data or Aren’t Using it Correctly
In today’s age, every business needs website analytics to make data-informed decisions. Outside of surveys and focus groups, analytics will tell you what’s working and what’s not on your website. This is essential information that shows when people are leaving your site right away, which pages are engaging to customers, and which pages experience traffic drops. This knowledge will help you design a better website experience to improve your buyer journey.
If you’re not already leveraging website analytics, like Google Analytics, have your web design team integrate it and pull insights ASAP.
6. Your Website Feels Unstable
An unstable website can sneak up on you because you may not even know it exists! By the time you find out, potential customers may have already left after having a bad experience.
You may also encounter a situation in which an update or action in your CMS causes the web server to crash. A down website is a terrible sign for customers and significantly impacts your customer journey. The only way to prevent unstable websites is to monitor them through tools like UptimeRobot and fix issues ASAP. So, ensure your web design team is on top of things and proactive in maintaining your website.
The Bottom Line / TLDR
Confirm whether your web design works by reviewing your search ranks, bounce rate, conversions, customers’ expectations, analytics, and website stability. If you’re falling short on any of these, it’s definitely time to revisit your web designs and marketing!
Need help confirming the effectiveness of your web design? Contact Uplancer today! We can guide you through your existing website and identify areas for improvement.
