This comprehensive list of signs will blow your mind.
Every business needs an effective website. It is the hub of all of your online marketing activities. Without an effective website, you will never see significant results from any online advertising campaign.
Let this blog open your eyes to designing your website.
You are losing money every day by not designing your website.
Here’s why.
1. Your website is not generating revenue, sales or leads
Your website is not generating any conversions. If your website receives traffic, but no conversions, this is a problem. Your website could be missing something critical that is turning your website visitors off.
2. Your website has no conversion funnel
You have no clue what your website conversion funnel is. Or, you do not know what a conversion funnel is.
A conversion funnel are the stages a visitor navigates through your website in order to convert. Effective website designs define conversion funnels. Starting from the home page of your website, you should know how visitors will travel through your website to gain what they are looking for.
3. Your website design is outdated
You have not designed your website since dial-up Internet was the only way to get online. Or, you have a new website that looks like a website made in those times.
As time progresses, consumer tastes and preferences change. If your website design is outdated and does not make a good impression, prepare for the exit button. Your website is never finished, forever. Make gradual improvements to your website design over the years to keep up the times.
4. Your website does not make a good first impression
First impressions are everything. The truth is that you only have 3 seconds to make an impression on a website visitor. If your website does not make a good impression within this time frame, you will likely miss opportunities.
5. Your website is not trustworthy or credible
Your website is not trustworthy. It looks sketchy. People are afraid to buy anything on your website, because “they don’t know who you are”. Poor website designs can dramatically increase this feeling.
48% of people believe website design as the number one factor in deciding the credibility of a business. These statistics are not made-up. You can fact-check it here. Your website design is the reason people are converting, or not converting on your website.
6. Your website has a high bounce rate
Your website has a high bounce rate. Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors to a website who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page. In other words, people are exiting your website as soon as they enter it. The only way you would be able to find out your bounce rate is by using a website analytics provider, such as Google Analytics.
The average bounce rate for most websites range between 40-50%. Though, this varies across different industries. Your goal should be to have the lowest bounce rate possible. Low bounce rates indicate that visitors find your website to be valuable. Therefore, the lower bounce rate you have, the more opportunities you have to increase sales. A more effective website design can decrease your bounce rate and increase your conversions.
7. Your website has a low time-on-site
Your website visitors do not stay on your website long. Your website is turning people off. They are not finding what they are looking for. This could mean that your website is complicated, confusing, or just ineffective.
A more effective website design will likely increase your time-on-site. The longer people stay on your website, the more value they are finding on it. The more value you offer your website visitors, the more likely they will convert.
8. Your website is not mobile-friendly
Your website is not mobile-friendly. You don’t even know if your website is mobile-friendly because you never visit your website on your mobile device. Your website visitors are having a hard time navigating through your website. In fact, you look through your analytics and notice that none of your conversions come from mobile-devices. Is this you?
50% of all internet users are using mobile devices. 46% of all people who use mobile devices reported difficulties in navigating websites. An effective website design a website that focuses on the desktop, and mobile experience.
9. Your website is not responsive
Your website is not responsive. Responsive websites will expand to the full screen of whichever device you are using. Typical devices are desktop computers, tablets, and mobile devices. Unresponsive websites can leads to some of the signs we’ve mentioned above. It can cause high bounce rates, low time-on-site, and no conversions.
In order to offer the best website experience to your visitors, your website must be responsive. This is a non-negotiable feature of your website. Your visitors will be accessing your website on various devices and if you want to maximize your conversions, you need a responsive website.
10. Your website is slow
Your website is slow. Or, your website loads slow on certain devices or browsers. For example, your website could load slow on Google Chrome, but loads perfectly on Internet Explorer. You should troubleshoot this, and if it is loading slow, you need to fix this.
Remember, you only have 3 seconds to make a positive impression on your visitors. If those 3 seconds are being spent trying to load your website, you are in trouble. Your visitors are going to exit before your website even loads! Don’t miss out on opportunities by using an ineffective website.
11. Your website menu is ineffective
Your website menu is pointless. It does not help your visitors find anything. They can’t even figure out the “products” or “contact us” page of your website. You could be missing opportunities due to an ineffective website menu.
An effective website design will include a sitemap. This sitemap will include the pages on your website, and how your menu and site structure will navigate them to those pages.
12. Your website has no call-to-actions
Your website has no call-to-actions. And sadly, you do not even know what a call-to-action looks like. A call-to-action button is simply the area of a webpage that entices action. An example would be “sign-up now” or “get started today”.
You need a website design that creatively uses call-to-actions. This is necessary to take your website visitors from point A to point B. It will take them from your home page, to the purchase page. Without call-to-actions, you are failing to help your visitors navigate through your website.
13. Your website is on Wix, Weebly, or GoDaddy
Your website is on Wix, GoDaddy, Weebly, or something comparable. These websites are limited. The design interface is limited. The SEO functionality is limited. And, it looks cheap.
We can look at a website and automatically tell it is a Wix website. While these platforms are great for small businesses to put something up (instead of nothing), it fails to build trust and credibility. And since we’re being honest, most business owners are not website designers. You may struggle with color-schemes, layouts, and miss simple things that a web designer will not.
14. Your cousin, nephew, or close friend designed your website
You never liked your website, but your friend designed it. So, you kept it.
Or, you did not want to pay the price for an effective website design service, so you let your nephew design your site.
You saved some money, but could be losing more money. While your business finally has a website and online presence, you may be missing bigger opportunities to maximize conversions. If you are not 100% in love with your website, your visitors probably are not either. And, this should make you want to do something about your website design.
15. Your website is hard to understand
Your website is hard to understand. It makes sense to you, but no one else. You used fancy words that potential customers do not understand. The images on the website do not correspond with the message you want to portray. The font types are inconsistent and the font sizes do not follow best practices. Get the point?
A professional website design will get this right, the first time. Avoid spending unnecessary time and energy on a website that you are going to completely overhaul in the future.
16. You are always thinking about changing your website
You are insecure about your website. As soon as you tell someone your website URL, you say “don’t judge it, we’re still working on it”. While you really don’t want people to judge your website, you are not really working on it.
With the right website design, you do not have to be insecure. You will be confident in your website’s ability to effectively communicate your message to your visitors. You will trust your conversion funnel and feel more comfortable with investing into advertising services.
17. Your website does not rank on search engines
Your website is not optimized for search engines. It does not have the appropriate tags, coding, or descriptions for SEO. As a result, you are missing out on thousands of free visitors to your website.
An effective website design is optimized for SEO. While you could spend months learning SEO to implement it, your best is option is most likely to use an experiencedSEO company to work on your site’s SEO.
18. Your website does not receive referrals
Your website does not receive any referral traffic. Your website is not being shared on social media. It is not featured in industry-related blogs. Your own customers are not sharing or recommending your website to their friends.
An effective website will change this. If you focus on providing the best website experience to your visitors, they will become your biggest advocate. They will share it all of social media and with their friends. You will also likely see an increase in referral traffic from other websites that find your website’s content to be useful.
19. Your website does not have a blog
Although content is king, your website does not have a blog. Perhaps, the platform your website was built on is incapable of having a blog. Or, you just do not know how to install it. Either way, you should have a blog.
20. Your Facebook, Amazon, or Etsy page is your website
Your Facebook, Amazon, or Etsy page is your website. It is where most of your sales occur. Your customers do not even know your website exists. Perhaps, it is because you think it is irrelevant or not necessary.
Wrong. It is still important to have a website. All brands need to have some sort of hub to their marketing efforts. Although the transaction may not take place on your website, it may still be valuable. Most consumers do their research online. And, your website can help them to do their research. An informed customer is a great customer. Use an effective website to inform your audience.
21. You do not have a website
You do not have a website, or any web presence at all. Perhaps, you are a brick-and-mortar shop and your customers find you offline. You’ve been in business for years, and maybe you think you do not need one.
Wrong. Sooner or later, if you do not have an online presence, you will not have a business. The shift to online is no longer a trend. It is reality. Invest in an effective website to expand your business online.
22. You rarely get positive feedback on your website
You rarely get positive feedback on your website. Perhaps you generate sales, but never survey your customers to inquire on their experience with your website.
You may be missing opportunities to increase your conversion rate. One change on your website may increase your sales. If you never get positive feedback on your website, ask for it. Survey your customers, or ask a friend, to give you feedback on your website. There may be fundamental design changes you can make to increase your bottom-line.
23. Your website does not make you stand out
Your visitors can’t tell what is unique about your business. Your website does not differentiate from the competition. You are saying the same thing in the same way as the hundreds of other business just like you.
An effective website design can help your business stand out. You do not have to follow market. You can do something completely different with your website that makes your business unique in the eyes of your visitors.
24. Your website is a liability, not an asset
Your website is a liability, not an asset. It is hurting you more than helping you. It is costing you money, and not generating money.
Your website should be an asset, not a liability. It should produce traffic, leads, and sales. If it is not, you should consider redesigning your website.
25. Redesigning your website can take your business to the next level
When considering a website design, think of your website as if it was a store. It is the platform in which your visitors make purchasing decisions. If your customers walk-in to a messy store, they will have a poor experience. If your customers can’t find your products (or services), they will not buy it.
