Investing time and money into a website only to see it underdeliver can be disheartening. If you’re feeling frustrated because your website isn’t getting enough traffic, or your site isn’t converting visitors in the way you hoped then we may be able to help.
We’ve put together a handy, five-point checklist to help your site perform better.
When clients come to us for a website redesign it’s usually because their current website is underperforming, in that case it is usual for us to encounter a common set of problems.
When it comes to the overall user journey and design then a bigger website design project is required, however, there are some quick things to check first if you feel your website is underperforming. If you are worried about how your site is performing this handy checklist below is a good place to start.
What do we mean when we say your site is underperforming?
There are a few ways to assess a website’s performance, but ultimately it all comes down to one question: Are you getting the results you expected from your site?
The key aims of sites vary and could be people buying products, downloading information, signing up to a mailing list, making a new business enquiry or simply engaging with your content. No matter what your site is aiming to achieve, there are some areas that are worth checking that we have listed below…
1. Your content isn’t relevant to searchers
Sites use keywords to be found in search engines, these keywords need to be relevant to your content.
It might sound obvious but it’s worth checking. If a user lands on your site from a specific search term then they need to see instantly that they’re where they need to be. So build your content around those search terms and make sure the visitors you get are there for the right reasons.
Put yourself in a new user’s shoes. Does the website’s content make sense in relation to your search terms?
2. You’re taking too long to load
Whilst speed isn’t the be all and end all, and the quality of the website design shouldn’t be sacrificed for speed, a website that keeps the user waiting excessively risks losing them.
It’s well worth keeping an eye on things, particularly if you run an eCommerce site. According to research from digital performance measurement firm Dynatrace, just a half second difference in page load times can make a 10% difference in sales for an online retailer.
There are tools online such as Googles’ Page Speed Insights that can help you identify if your website is taking too long to load. If it is there are ways to speed it, from ensuring your site is built well with no excess code slowing things down, to making sure images are properly compressed to ensuring you are on a good server.
3. You’re not search engine optimised
If you aren’t sure if your website is primed and ready to be found on Google, then head to Google Search Console to see if there are any issues that may be affecting your website and stopping the search engines from crawling your webpages.
It will also let you know which pages have been picked up and indexed by Google and what search queries people are using to find your website. This information is invaluable and can help massively in ongoing SEO
4. You’re not mobile friendly
In general the average website is more likely to be viewed on a mobile device than a desktop computer. People expect websites to work well on their phone.
If they don’t work well, are hard to navigate due to a bad interface design, are fiddly and annoying to use, or are hard to read on a mobile device people will be far less likely to engage.
A site may be able to be tweaked to work better on mobile or it may need a fundamental overhaul, it’s worth consulting an expert digital agency to find out the best solution for optimising your website for mobile users.
5. Your user journey is not defined well
If your website is getting lots of hits then you’re being found and your SEO is probably in good shape. However, if it’s not converting those visits into the leads or sales you expected then it’s probably the case that the overall user journey needs some attention.
Unlike the previous 4 reasons, this is not a straightforward issue and isn’t always easily fixed. In principle your site needs to provide a clear path from the user searching and finding you from a search engine, through to landing on the page, to the final call to action.
A good digital agency can identify weaknesses in your site’s user journey, and provide solutions to fix the issues. It may be that your website requires a redesign, or could be as simple as changing the key areas of copy, tweaking your SEO and call to action placements.
We hope that these tips help you if you are struggling with your current site’s under performance. There are always ways to improve a website. If you would like to know more get in touch with the Above Digital team.
If you would like to know more than please make sure to contact our team to see how we can help transform the fortunes of your website.
