When promoting your business or brand on the internet, your most crucial marketing tool is your business website. Your website directly impacts your online presence and the success of your business.
With over a billion active internet users, the online world is the perfect place to promote your brand, widen your market reach, and increase your sales. However, you can only do that when you have an effective and attractive website design.
As of today, there are around two billion websites online. This means that when you put your website out there, it’ll be tough competition between you and other business websites within the same industry. Regardless of how long your website has been around, you must constantly monitor its performance to see if it’s working and is effective in boosting online leads.
How can you tell if your current website design isn’t working well for your business promotion? Here are a few signs that indicate your existing website is no longer working for your business and that it’s time to re-evaluate and redesign it.
1. Low Number Of Pages Per Visit
‘Pages per visit’ measures the average number of web pages a particular visitor or group of users views on your website. Seeing a large number of pages per visit means your visitors are engaged with your website, prompting them to explore more content from your site.
However, if you see a low number of pages per visit, that could indicate that your visitors aren’t engaged or satisfied with your website and the user experience it offers. When this continues, users will no longer visit your website as they will start looking for something better.
How To Fix It:
There are several reasons you have a low number of pages per visit. It could be due to a cluttered website design, stale content, or confusing website navigation. You’ll need to redesign your website to enhance its aesthetic design, layout, and navigation. If you’re unsure what to change or improve, you can hire a professional web design company such as Smartly Done or other web design services.
Web design companies have years of relevant experience, skills, and knowledge, making them capable of brainstorming new and better designs each time. All you need to do is provide them with a description of your industry, business, brand, and message or concept you’d like to present on your website. Then, they’ll redesign your website, saving you more time and allowing you to focus on other essential tasks.
2. High Bounce Rate
The bounce rate determines the percentage of people who leave or exit your website after viewing a single page. According to resources, a good bounce rate is between 26% and 40%, while 41% to 55% is considered average.
However, if your website’s bounce rate is often above 50%, this could be a sign that your website design is ineffective. Possible reasons why your website has a high bounce rate include the following:
- Low-quality content
- Landing on an Error 404 page
- No CTA
- Slow loading
How To Fix It:
To improve your website design and lower your bounce rate, you can do the following:
- Avoid putting ‘text-heavy’ content on the landing page when redesigning your website’s layout. Keep the layout organized by displaying only the latest articles with their titles, images, and meta descriptions.
- Make it easier for users to browse information by improving navigation.
- Provide a call to action (CTA) to guide your users on what to do.
3. Not Mobile-Responsive
Nowadays, more people browse the internet using their phones or tablets as they’re more convenient to use. However, if your website is unresponsive or inaccessible when opened on mobile devices, visitors will more likely exit your website immediately and move on to the competitor’s site. When all your visitors deal with this problem, this could significantly impact your website’s performance and overall conversion rate.
How To Fix It:
- You can seek professional help from a web design company to develop a responsive and flexible layout that automatically rescales to fit devices’ screens.
- Compress the images on your website to help with the download speed.
- Avoid pop-ups for mobile users as they only often work well on desktop versions.
- Use large and readable fonts on your website.
4. Slow Website
Most visitors are only willing to wait for 5 to 10 seconds for a page to load. If some parts of your website page or the entire site take too long to load, users will immediately close your page and browse for another site. Some reasons for a slow website may be an outdated theme/layout, an overloaded server, or poor coding.
How To Fix It:
- Clean your website’s coding by removing unnecessary elements like inline spacing, comments, and white spaces.
- If your website is already up for five years or longer, update its overall theme and plugins.
- Investigate which queries are taking longer to execute that should be optimized.
5. Low Ranking On SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages)
All website owners know how important it is for their sites to rank on SERPs. When your website is among the top 3 or 5 in search engine results, many users will be checking your website, leading to higher leads and sales. However, if your site has a low ranking on SERPs, people won’t be able to find your website, let alone know its existence, affecting your website traffic.
How To Fix It:
- Search the most used keywords related to your brand/industry and try to incorporate them into your website URL or page name.
- Optimize your website title.
- Invest in content marketing and pay attention to your website’s search engine optimization (SEO).
6. Your Business/Brand Has Expanded And Outgrown Your Old Website
When your website design isn’t working anymore, it doesn’t necessarily mean something is wrong. Your website must also keep up as your business or brand grows and develops over the years. If you’re a startup business owner, you can have a DIY website, but that DIY website may need some changes once you already have a reputation to uphold.
For instance, if you’ve already established additional branches of your business in different locations, you’ll have to include them on your website. Or, if you have an increasing number of loyal clients or new and potential customers that are curious due to effective word of mouth, you may need to add new features to your site.
How To Fix It:
- Add a ‘Customer Feedback/Reviews’ section on your website.
- Update your site’s imagery, preferably with pictures of your newly renovated or added business establishments.
- Add images or videos showcasing your business’s previous works, as this can function as your business portfolio.
Key Takeaway
Your website is one of your business’s most essential marketing tools. When designed and utilized properly, it can positively impact your customers’ user experience, satisfaction, and overall impression of your business.
Thus, if you detect the mentioned signs indicating that your website design isn’t effective anymore, you can hire professional web designers. Let them help you build a uniquely beautiful, optimized website that stands out against competitors and attracts good traffic.
