3 Reasons Your Website Isn’t Working
“We just spent $8,000 on our new site, here let me show you…”
My heart sank as the guy next to me tried to load his not-so-mobile-optimised site on his iPhone.
“It’s usually quicker than this, it must be the network” - probably not.
Nor was it the network’s fault that the site didn’t read well, had no Facebook pixel installed, no privacy policy or basic Google friendly structure, and most importantly; no call to action.
Ouch…
You can be sold the best looking, most expensive website in the world, but if the basics aren’t in place, it’s simply not going to work for you.
Because your web site is only one piece of the cold traffic to hot prospect funnel
Cold traffic (people who’ve never heard about your business) very rarely buy the first time they land on a website, unless you're Jeff Bezos...
Sorry, it’s just the way it is.
There's a customer journey they have to go on before they're ready to buy from you.
Sadly a lot of agencies won't tell you this (or know about it) as they offer to build your website.
If your site doesn’t fit into your sales funnel, you might as well not have one.
Here are 3 top reasons your website might not be working for you:
1) Lack of Traffic
Traffic is everything in the online space. If you don’t have traffic, you don’t have customers.
Do you know how much traffic your website is getting and where those people are coming from?
More importantly, what’s happening to that traffic once it arrives at your site?
These are crucial things to know if you’re spending advertising budget on customer acquisition.
Audience segmentation is crucial these days, so if your spending money on ads to drive traffic to your site, you’d better make sure it’s the right people who are landing there.
2) Your Message Doesn’t Resonate
If the copy on your website doesn’t speak directly to your audience, they’ll be gone in seconds.
People buy from businesses who have the clearest message. You can have the best product or service in your niche, but if your message isn’t clear, potential customers won't hang around to try and work it out.
Before you even look at building a new web site, you must ensure that your story (the text that goes on your site) is clear, written in a language your audience understands and immediately addresses their problem.
3) No Call to Action
I see this time and time again; no call to action on a web site.
Asking someone to work something out what they need to do next requires energy, and as human beings we're designed to conserve energy. That's why most people don't spend time trying to work stuff out.
So on your website, if you don’t have a clear instruction on what that person should do next, they’ll wander off and do something else.
Think of like someone walking in to your shop and you completely ignoring them. What do you think is going to happen?
Always have clear and strong calls to action on your site. Here are two examples:
Direct Call to Action: Buy Now
Transitional Call to Action: Book a Free Call
Transitional Call to Action: Book a Free Call
The barrier to designing a good looking website has never been lower
And that’s the bad news...
Because almost any designer can use a template to create something nice looking.
The problem is if they’re not marketeers, they won’t understand all the pieces of a funnel that turns cold traffic into paying customers.
You site might look great but it could be the loneliest place on the web, and that doesn’t pay your bills.
👉 Get in touch to find out about the high converting websites we create for our clients (that's what is known as a Direct Call to Action 😉)
Post by Andy Brown
If you're thinking about a new web site, then please drop me a line first so I can help you avoid the pitfalls of an expensive, non-converting sales funnel.
