You have 50 milliseconds to grab someone’s attention before they leave your site.
In an increasingly fast paced, instant gratification online world, you really need to make the right first impression in order to make a lasting one.
As a Showit website designer, I’ve seen my fair share of good, bad, and ugly when it comes to website design, so today’s episode I wanted to share the top 5 DIY website mistakes I’ve seen that are costing you business. Not to mention, they should be fairly easy to fix, even for you DIYers out there.
I believe that a website needs to be both pretty and strategic, because one without the other will typically lead to the same dead end results.
Not reassuring people they’re in the right place.
People are lazy. You’ll hear me say this time and time again, but as consumers, we tend to glance and if we can’t find what we’re looking for (unless we have a very specific reason to) we’ll likely just leave.
You need to make sure your website reassures people that they are in the right place by letting them know who you are, what you do, who you do it for, and where (if this matters to what you do).
If this information isn’t readily available, people are likely to leave your site, rather than staying.
Not including clear calls to action
I’ve done quite a few website audits for people, and this is typically the top thing I see websites lacking. Yes, we want a pretty website, but we need to make sure we are telling people what to do next.
By clearly guiding people and telling them exactly what to do, we are also providing a good client experience (for more information on how to provide a raving client experience, check out episode 4 of the podcast!), which also helps build trust with our potential clients.
Awkward white space
Whether too much or too little, we need to make sure we have white space.
For DIYers out there, they typically seem afraid of white space, which can quickly make the site feel cluttered, again leading people to leave rather than staying.
White space also helps us make sure the information on our website is easy to process, which again helps people stay on our site longer!
Including too much information
The right information, to the right people, at the right time.
Interesting observation I’ve made recently is that early in our businesses, or if we’re struggling with imposter syndrome, we tend to have too much information on our site almost as if we’re trying to overcompensate for something or even convince ourselves that we know what we’re doing and were worthy of the price tag.
Ask yourself “so what” as you’re reading our reviewing the information on your website.
It might sound harsh, but these people don’t actually care about you. So as you’re writing your website copy, you do need to ask yourself “okay, but so what? Why does this matter?”
On the other hand, we want to make sure we are giving people enough information as well. I’m know myself personally as a customer or client, I want to know a good amount of information up front before I reach out. I don’t want to waste anyone’s time, and I don’t want to come across as cheap or disrespectful.
Not mobile optimized
Have you ever checked the analytics on your site? I know for me, most of my traffic actually comes from desktop, but for most of my clients it’s the opposite. I’m guessing that’s because of where and when people are searching for things I’m coming up for, like Pinterest searches or tutorials for various things.
If you’re on Showit, you’re in luck, since you’re able to edit mobile and desktop separately.
