Have you created and designed a website for your business, thinking you’re all set? Think again! Time and time again, many common mistakes find their way onto business websites. Even the slightest error or oversight can disrupt the flow and prevent traffic from reaching your website (which you certainly don’t want). Precision and attention to detail are essential for a business website, as every little thing matters! Before you launch your website, here are ten things to consider, as modifying a few things can make a big difference!
Can Your Clients Actually Find You? (SEO)
You’ve likely heard about SEO on the Ambrose Marketing website, and we assure you, it’s something to pay attention to. Writing great content for your website is one thing, but if hardly anyone sees it, that’s a whole different story. SEO improves visibility in search engines through proper keywording, resulting in increased traffic. Rewriting your content specifically for Google traffic can result in a significant increase in customer enquiries. That’s why SEO is absolutely vital. Ignoring it could lead to a treacherous journey to discover your link organically.
No Proof Of Social Media
We hope your business has a social media presence; if so, it is clearly linked and displayed on your website. Clients from a younger demographic interested in your service are more likely to search for you on social media or find your website’s links to review your content. Because this is now the norm, not having proof of a social media presence can be a huge red flag for potential clients.
Not Providing An Alternative Mobile View
When building your website on a laptop interface, it can be easy to forget that you must create an alternate view for those using their phone. Your website may look stunning on a laptop but may appear clunky on a mobile face view. Investing time in building a responsive, mobile-friendly interface extends the usability of your website to even more clients. It’s a win-win!
Website Has Poor Readability
This mistake can take place after sorting out your SEO. You’ve got your keywording and content sorted, but can your clients actually read it? This may seem obvious, but many websites fall into this trap. Colour and font are everything because choosing something visually appealing with a bright colour can be challenging to read. It is not a good idea to prioritise aesthetics over function in your writing because aesthetics and function must be equally balanced. This also goes for the layout and position of your written content. Readability is everything!
You’re Keeping An Old Website
There is much more competition these days than a decade ago, and sticking with an old site with dated images and broken hyperlinks can ruin your brand’s perception. In short, keeping the old website is an enormous, but unfortunately common, mistake. An outdated website isn’t just out of touch with modern advancements; it’s a recipe for bugs and likely a nightmare to navigate on a mobile interface. Patching up an old website opens the door to many problems, so stubbornly sticking to an outdated one isn’t smart. Restarting your website from scratch is the most effective approach!
Your Website Is Inconsistent
The look and feel of your website are expressions of your business, which needs consistent design and content. Each should maintain a distinct vibe from the homepage to service pages and beyond to showcase your business’s unique branding—inconsistencies in colour palettes and fonts across pages can distract users, leading to a disjointed experience. Visual consistency elevates the professionalism of your website, where clients are more trusting to make enquiries.
Oversaturation Of Content
Content is important to have for your website, including links, images, illustrations, animations and more. While these elements add fun, setting limits is a good idea. If there is too much content, your website will look completely overcrowded, and you’ll risk user navigation issues. Oversaturation of content will also detract from your business site’s actual purpose, which is to generate leads! Balancing content with effortless navigation is the golden rule.
Where Are Your Customer Reviews?
Showing off positive testimonials is a great way to earn the trust of new clients. Not showing proof of previous customer satisfaction is an easy oversight, but it makes all the difference when included in your site. You can add reviews to your website by embedding Google reviews, which are typically best positioned at the bottom of a page (make sure to encourage clients to leave a Google review, so you have some handy for display!).
Irregular Content Updates
If your website’s content has yet to be updated since it was built, you’re dealing with outdated information. This applies to videos, reviews, blog entries, etc., because infrequent updates or outdated information may appear lazy to a potential client. You’ll need to add the most recent updates and news to your website to look fresh with relevant content. Visitors will interact more with your website if it contains the most recent content.
Ignoring Data Insights
Data insights are extremely important for tracking the analytics of your website’s audience. You can alter strategies depending on the insights, such as the demographics of your website visitors and the most frequent types of enquiries. Ignoring this data neglects the attention to detail needed to cater to your most frequent visitors.