The use of the internet has become so commonplace that more and more businesses are opting to use it. As a business owner nowadays, it is almost expected for you to create a website to represent whatever product or service that you are offering. Some businesses have even moved entirely online, only operating through E-commerce.
While many business owners are setting up sites for their business, some of them are making the mistake of neglecting site content, relying mostly on twitter and Facebook to engage customers. While social media can play an important part in your business, so can a website. How a website is presented to potential customers can show whether or not you have a trustworthy business. Any decent business owner knows how important establishing trust is.
If you are running a website and you are afraid that it is driving away potential customers, here are four reasons why this could be happening:
1. Unapparent Website Security.
If you litter a web page with a numerous amount of ads, this not only irritates visitors, it gives the impression of being way too spammy. Spam can actually cause visitors to feel like a site is illegitimate or even unsafe.
Online safety is predicated to be a huge concern for 2016. According to a case study conducted by Blue Coat, 2016 will be facing more security issues due to the increased use of encryption. This could lead to web users feeling even more unsafe now that malware can more easily work through encrypted sites.
Giving a sense of security to your website should bring in more traffic and in turn more customers. A site that looks and feels safe can give you an edge up on competitors.
2. Outdated Design/Layout.
People are more likely to want to buy from a source that frequently updates itself and its website. Customers want to know that you are passionate about your product or service and that you are always making changes to improve your business. Giving customers updates on your product or service will not only share that you care, it will provide them even better versions of what your business offers.
If the information on your site has not been updated in a long time, this could signal to potential customers that your business is dead. People always prefer to buy the newest and best products available, and a dead business usually does not offer that.
3. Poor Content.
It’s important that the content itself is good. For instance, if a site is littered with mistakes or typos, visitors will see the business as less legitimate.
If you are missing important information, like an about page, then people will not know what your business does. Be sure to go into detail about what your business offers, how it does that, and point out the people who work within the business. The more information a person knows, the more confident they feel about doing business with you.
4. On-Site Navigation.
Be sure to make your site’s content easy to navigate. Do not make it difficult for web users to find particular information on a given subject, or they will be more likely to turn away. It is best to categorize your site into simple sections and pages so that it is easy to find. The written content itself should be easy to understand as well. A common template that you see on websites would be to have an about page, a contact page, and a page about the company’s team members.
Cameron Johnson is a business consultant and social media expert. Over the course of his career he has conducted case studies on both social media optimization and non-profit marketing. Cameron has also had the opportunity to speak at international marketing conferences and was recently recognized as one of the world’s top 100 advertising experts to follow on social media.
