Are you constantly worried that you are losing out on sales because your website is not living up to its full potential? Do you want to know how you can improve your website so that you can increase traffic and revenue? If you answered said yes to both these questions, then keep scrolling down to read more.
Having a website is the most essential tool for your business in 2021. It is one of the most important ways through which your customers can know about your brand and the services that you provide. There is a high chance that you are losing money because your website hasn’t been updated in years or because it is riddled with issues.
You need to ensure that your website is working and running smoothly so that it does not become a reason why your potential customers decide to leave. Having a web developer at your disposal is key to maintaining a healthy website, if you do not have one, you must find one immediately so that they can take care of any necessary changes.
Here is a list of 8 reasons why your website could be losing you money.
1. Your website is running slow
Your website speed could be ruining your customer experience if it is running too slow. Yes, you read that correctly. According to Hobo Web, the ideal website load time for websites is 1-2 seconds, and 53% of website visits are abandoned if pages take longer than 3 seconds to load. If the user has to wait, they are going to leave your website without making a purchase or even going through other services that you provide. So, you must ensure that your website is not slow. If it is, it is time to get it fixed, otherwise it could be detrimental to your business.
2. Your website has internal links that are broken
You must be constantly checking that links inside your website are working. Chances are that there are some links in your website that are broken and don’t work. You need to keep an eye on every single link you have on your website so that you can easily fix or remove them if necessary. If you do not keep track of this, it will cause users to leave the minute they get caught in a “404 Not Found” error page.
3. Your website got hacked
Another reason why your website could be costing your sales is because it got hacked. According to Tech Jury, around 30,000 WordPress websites get hacked every day. So, do not think that your website won’t get hacked. Sometimes hackers are able to take over your website and redirect your customers to a malicious website or display malicious content on it. If the client spends too much time on such a website, chances are that their computer could get infected with malware or malicious content that could affect other stuff on the computer as well. In such a circumstance, your potential customer might feel that your website is untrustworthy, and you could lose them forever, resulting in a damaged reputation.
4. Your website has an old design
You need to make sure that your website’s design is updated constantly. It is the year 2021 and trends are changing by the second in the digital world. To stay at the top of the game, you need to ensure that your website does not have an old design and is not difficult to read. You might be feeling that you have enough content on your website to keep your audiences hooked and engaged. However, this might not be the case in reality. You need to switch to the latest technology and get rid of the old platforms you are used to, even if that means re-designing your website from scratch because having a nice design along with a great user experience is what will keep customers coming back.
5. Your website is not mobile optimized
If you have visited websites on your phone, you have definitely encountered many that hardly work, and some that are impossible to use. More than likely, you have stumbled upon a website that was not mobile optimized. According to Tech Crunch, in 2015 mobile usage surpassed desktop usage for the first time in history—and this trend shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, your user experience is suffering and visitors aren’t likely to spend much time on your website, and in fact, will probably never return again. If you have an old website design and are planning on re-designing your website, make sure the web developer that you hire builds a website that works just as good on mobile as on desktop.
6. Your website has plugins that don’t work properly
Similar to how your internal links can be broken, there might be days when some plugins on your website just stop working. For instance, there could be a contact form on your website that might not be working when a customer tries to email you. If the forms on your website do not work, you just lost a customer. Always make sure plugins are working correctly so that it won’t be the bottleneck of your business.
7. Your website has auto-update turned on
Nowadays, many web developers have enabled the auto-update feature on platforms such as WordPress, which is great to stay updated. But it does not mean that this is always a good thing, sometimes being on the newest version can break the core of the website, causing PHP errors and the site to go down. This is something you need to understand as a website owner because this will cause customers to not be able to access your website. Consult your web developer to decide whether you want this featured turned on or not.
8. Your website doesn’t have HTTPS
Last but not least, one of the core reasons why your website could be costing you traffic and sales is because of security.
Your website link should look like this:
https://www.cosmicostudios.com
Not like this:
Your website must be encrypted nowadays for it to work properly. To check if it’s not, you will notice a red lock instead of a green one next to your website URL. When the customer sees an encrypted green website lock, they feel a sense of trust towards your brand and company. It also helps in the Search Engine ranking on Google when people look for you. This is an issue that we see constantly with many websites out there, yet their owners don’t notice that it is stopping users from landing on their page, resulting in the loss of a ton of customers.
Most of these changes might feel overwhelming to those who are not very technical, but it does not mean you need to tackle it alone. We are a team of professional web developers that can help you fix any current issues you have on your website and give you advice on how to improve it for the future. Contact us to find out how we can help.
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