- Too much information
- Can’t find the information they need
- Outdated design / poor quality images
- Not responsive
- Not secure
Too much information
Less is more, as the saying goes. This is particularly true when you are trying to communicate your key message to your target audience.
The trouble is, when you are too close to your product or service, you have a tendency to write as much as possible about it, in an attempt to show your knowledge and expertise in that area.
What ends up happening though, is people switch off from information overload. If they can’t find the information they need within about 10 seconds of skimming your homepage, say goodbye.
Can’t find the information they need
Although this can be linked to the first point about having too much information and visitors switching off because they can’t be bothered to read through your novel… it can also be down to simply not providing the information people need.
Example: we were looking for a petting zoo to take our son before the second lockdown came into effect. Even once we had a recommendation of the one we should go to, it was next to impossible to find any information on opening hours, booking options, cost etc. There was a mobile phone number which we called 3 times and texted once. The result was even the lady running the zoo didn’t know if they were booked! In the end we gave up and planned a different activity.
Outdated design / poor quality images
With how far web design has come in the past 5 years, having a site that ‘looks old’ can have a massive impact on your visitors first impressions of your brand and your company.
In many cases your bounce rate can increase significantly simply because an outdated design signals that you don’t care about your site, and by associate your product or service. Also using dated stock photography, or low-resolution images doesn’t do you any favours.
Keeping your site looking fresh and having all the right content is crucial. Remember, for the past 9 months since the first lockdown hit, a lot more business is being done online. Don’t get left behind because of a negative first impression.
Not responsive
60% of all internet browsing is done on a smartphone… If your site isn’t mobile optimised, your visitors will immediately leave your site. Of course, that is if they can even find it in the first place! Google penalises websites that aren’t optimised for phones & tablets. And with over 92% of all searches happening on Google, you can be sure you want to be doing as much as you can to be found.
Not secure
If you’ve ever looked to the left of the URL in your browser, more often than not you will see a little padlock icon. This means the site has an active SSL certificate, and is encrypted and secure.
Occasionally though, if there is no active SSL, then it will show as not secure, and in some cases (using Chrome as an example) the page won’t even display.
This is crucially important if you are running an e-commerce site, where you are expecting customers to trust their credit card details being processed through your site.
An unsecure site can raise red flags and cause your visitors to search elsewhere.
Time to act
If your website has any combination of these top 5 reasons, it’s time for an update. It could also be a good time to think about a rebrand, to relaunch yourself and tell the world that you are here to stay.
Freshly Brewed can help you on your journey to attracting and maintaining customers through strong brand development, website design, development and optimisation as well as marketing campaigns to drive relevant traffic.
With a second lockdown arriving in a matter of days, will your customers be searching for you, or your competitors?
