If you’re running a business in 2023, odds are you already have a website published. While that is a great first step, sometimes just HAVING a website can be doing more to hurt your business, if it isn’t set up correctly. A broken or ineffective website can give off a very poor first impression to new visitors and can immediately dissuade potential customers to a different website instead. That’s why it’s SO important to have a robust website that provides information, works correctly, is easy-to-use, and looks great!

To give you some reference points on what to look for on your own site, here are 5 Reasons Your Business Website Is Working AGAINST You, Not For You!

It doesn’t even matter what state your business’ website is in, if customers can’t find it! Search Engine Optimization is the concept of making websites and content that search engines, such as Google, rank highly for relevant search queries.

So if you’re a bakery, and someone in your area searches for “bakeries”… will you show up? How about “custom baked goods” or “wedding cakes?” Google’s algorithm will search your site and rank it based on its algorithm for related keywords people are searching for on Google. There are TONS of trips and ticks on how to get your website ranked higher for specific keywords, which can provide MASSIVE benefits to your business, starting with a lot more visits to your website.

Once visitors get to your website, it needs to be able to load fast, show all the images & video, and have functional buttons and plug-ins. There’s nothing more frustrating than looking at a half-loaded website or dealing with broken links. Too often, business owners will build their website, but never check back in to ensure everything is still working correctly. We see this is especially common with plugins like contact forms not properly sending forms directly to the business’ email, which means you’re losing business!

Your site needs to mirror the professionalism and effectiveness of your actual business, and that starts with it being fully-functional and running correctly!

As of May 2023, 92.3% of internet users access the internet using a mobile phone. That means having a website that looks great and works well on mobile devices is incredibly important to the success of your business. Having a non mobile-optimized website will mean devices will show a cramped and ineffective version of the site, and result in tons of clicks away, as viewers can easily try a competitor with a mobile-optimized site two clicks away. Ensuring your website is mobile-optimized will also help it quickly load on devices of all shapes and sizes.

Keeping your website optimized is an easy way to make sure your website is functioning great and helping put your best foot forward with your digital marketing.

Another very common issue we find with business websites is incorrect information listed all over the site. While it may seem obvious, things such as business hours, updated location addresses, and other relevant information need to be true to what’s actually happening currently.

If you’re a restaurant whose website says you open at 1pm, and a customer shows up at 1:30pm only to find out you truly open at 3pm – you’ve just done sometimes irreparable damage to your relationship with the customer. This can often lead to negative reviews and social media issues which can just compound other problems.

It’s simple, but having current and correct business information displayed prominently on your website is critical, and if there are any changes – have a way to quickly and effectively show the updates on your site, such as a pop-up.

Ultimately, you’re creating a business website to attract customers, it needs to be easy for them to use, find information, and get contact with you. Successful user interface encompasses a variety of topics but includes things like a simple menu navigation, in-site links that bring you to relevant other pages, effective call-to-actions, a prominent “Contact Us” section and more. Your website needs to provide prospective customers with the information they’re looking for and take action on the information they find immediately.

Business owners should make sure their site is streamlined and is connecting their customers to the information and services they are looking for in the first place.

In today’s digital world, business owners NEED to be handling their website as an integral part of their success. If you look at your current website and aren’t immediately sold that it’s HELPING your business, and not HURTING it – you should look into making some changes as soon as possible.

We help businesses with full-service digital marketing services, including website design, and we’d love to help you get your website working for you, not against you!