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10 Website Design Mistakes That Will Kill Your Customer Conversion Rates

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Finally here it is! The top 10 road blocks or hurdles that are going to kill your website conversion rates. Do any of these and your customers are going the leave your website in great numbers, thereby killing any chance of converting them into paying customers. I want to tell you about a very scary statistic; did you know that over 75% of websites fail to make any money. That just leaves a mere 25% of websites that are actually working. The question is which percentage bracket do you want to be in? Getting it wrong is all too easy. Having a website that is performing is a lot harder than it looks and following are 10 really bad website mistakes you should avoid at all costs. WHY AM I WARNING YOU ABOUT THESE MISTAKES? Read on…

Because when we started Hopping Mad Designs in 1998, we did so with the perfectly good intention of helping businesses Sydney wide succeed online.

We saw far too many businesses blow it by having an absolute shocking website and we thought it was time to offer businesses a place where they could go for professional web design, internet marketing advice without costing the earth.

Over the last 22 years, we have helped well over 2000 businesses succeed.

We know exactly what works online and what kills a website dead in its tracks. We have seen the same mistakes again and again. All that happens is that businesses end up losing vast amounts of money and lost opportunities.

Related article: How to Increase the Sales Conversion Rate of My Website?

Your website content is far too long.

Rambling pages of copy are just going to bore the pants off the reader. In the same way, you feel when a person goes on and on about a topic.  You may like them a hell of a lot, but after a while, you just switch off. So be on-topic with your copy BUT never write just for the sake of it. Snappy, sales on the topic copy are what works best for time-poor consumers.

You have decided to go cheap with your hosting company.

What may seem like a great idea now is going to end up being a real pain in the ass. Nothing is worse than your web hosting either continuously going down or being ridiculously slow. Either way, it’s a real conversion killer. Spend the money on decent local hosting companies and you will have better website speeds and fewer downtimes. Speak to us about this as we can arrange your hosting and set up your emails as well. PLUS I want to make a clear point here; a slow website WILL AFFECT your Google rankings.

You have used a cheap, template website that looks dodgy.

Failing to instil trust in the consumer or a potential lead is a real concern if your website is sending out the wrong message. Make sure your website has the following attributes that will instil more trust, loyalty and therefore sales.

> above all make sure the website looks attractive. Nothing worse than going to an ugly website. You know the ones I am talking about. hard to use, terrible graphics, incredibly slow, totally outdated. Need I go on?

> include client testimonials for proof that you are a worthwhile agency.

> any associations or organisations you belong to that add credibility should be added to the site.

> you have to have a physical address and phone number. Nothing looks more suspect than having no direct numbers and only a PO Box.

> make sure your branding is consistent. Keep colours the same sitewide. Too many different colours will just dilute your brand. Also, avoid the use of too many stock images. Yes, they are easy to get BUT people are so so over them.

Your design is just confusing.

This is a real problem as the consumer is going to make up their mind whether they are going to buy from you within a few seconds. Don’t add to their indecision by making your site complicated. Keep your core unique selling point as simple as possible and make sure the user gets this message when they first land on your home page.

Like a retail shop if the passing consumer does not like what they see they will buy elsewhere. Simple as that. There is an issue with this. Choosing the right website design agency that knows how to design, based on your market is not so easy. Make sure you view their online portfolio of website work and see if it’s the right fit. To see what I mean click here.

Where are your sales funnels?

Where do consumers go to buy? Many websites look great but lack one thing. The buying process. How do they pick and buy from you without getting lost on the website? How do they make an inquiry and how do they know you received it when they sent it? All these questions need to be addressed so that once there is a customer on your site they find it super easy to make a purchase. A great looking website that is not making you money is a waste of time. Crazy Egg tells us that Each of the sales funnel stages has an impact on consumer behaviour. You need to know them intimately.

Here are a few tips that will improve your sales process:

  • make sure there are not too many fields to complete on your order forms.
  • give them the opportunity of money back or free trials of the product – this will improve the trust factor by miles.
  • again, as above add testimonials – if you can get video ones even better!
  • add clear call to action buttons on key product or services pages.
  • make your contact details easy to find

Try video to sell your message.

I have yet to try this BUT will in the not too distant future. But, this is certainly an area that businesses can use to improve their visibility and value proposition.

Not optimised their website for the search engines.

This is a real killer and one that many companies and businesses fail to do. They are either too lazy, do not know about it or end up getting mixed up with a really bad SEO company. This is a huge area and one that all businesses in Australia should be very concerned about. After all, why even bother getting your website all nicely designed with pretty pictures and great copy if it won’t appeal to new customers. Why? Because when they type in your product or service offering guess what happens? They find your competitors and not you. A real tragedy. Before you do anything in this SEO space make sure your speak with me ( Steven) and I will guide you through this complicated process.

You write your own copy.

Nothing is worse than reading content that has been put together unprofessionally. Yes, you might have been great at English in school but writing effective web copy for your consumer base is an entirely different matter. Make sure that you speak to your web developer about getting a copywriter to at least write the content for your main landing pages. Those pages that you want visitors to land on and buy from. Better web copy means higher conversion rates and guesses what….more money for you.

You don’t have an open-source CMS or content management system.

This can be a real killer as many web agencies will build you a website BUT ON THEIR CMS platform. And they will never tell you about this sneaky little trick Why? Because i’s a bit of a scam. The issues with having to use their CMS are:

> you are locked into using that company for the life of your website

> any changes you need to make ( that you cannot do through the CMS) have to go through them and they can charge you whatever they like. Because no one else will be able to do it as they will not grant access to the CMS.

> Basically, they have you locked in and sown up. There is no way out and they probably will charge you a monthly fee for the use of the CMS.

> PLUS you might be locked into using their hosting as well. BE REALLY CAREFUL ABOUT THIS POINT.

You are not collecting the names and email addresses of people who have been to your website and used that to market to them.

Offer incentives for them to sign up and leave their details. You will find that your database will grow quickly and this is a great marketing opportunity NOT TO BE MISSED. Make sure you do follow through with your emailing campaigns.

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