Like it or not, your website is the first introduction between you and your new clients. One Google search will lead them straight to you, giving you have one shot to hold them while they’re there; if it doesn’t impress, they may not come back. First impressions and overall functionality really matter, so if your website isn’t well-designed  and easy to navigate, you may be unknowingly turning them away.

Here are some pitfalls your site may be falling into:

1. It’s unclear where the customer is supposed to go.
   If it’s not immediately clear where your customer is supposed to go right from the homepage, that’s a problem. Your homepage should concisely show an intuitive and simple journey: look at this, click here next, and so on – ultimately leading them to your bottom-line call to action.What’s a call to action (CTA)? The instruction you give your customers, leading them to achieve your most important goal, such as “visit a store today” or “call us.”

2. Your home navigation is different on every page.
   This can get really confusing for your customers. The home navigation at the top (or side) of every page needs to say the same thing and take you to the same places.
   
   
3. It’s poorly designed.
   Poor choices of color, text that looks bad or is hard to read, layout that’s too cluttered…design choices that don’t reflect your company well turn more customers away than you might think.
4. It has bad photography (or worse, clip art).
   Stock photos that look too staged or are low-resolution subtly tell your customer the wrong things. And definitely don’t use any kind of clip art. Poor imagery gives the illusion that you do not care enough about your company image to invest in quality photography, or that you are hiding the reality of your facility.
5. There’s too much information.
   No one will read heavy body copy or cluttered headlines. Make sure that you know exactly what you want to say to your customers, and use as few words as possible to say it. Direct them to a FAQ page or to contact you for more information.
6. Links to other websites take the user away from yours.
   You don’t want to lose your customers. If you have links that take them to websites outside yours, they might not come back. Collaborating with other sites can help with SEO, but be careful that your customers have a reason to return.
7. Your content is difficult to get to.
   If your customer has a hard time finding a page or a product, they’ll get frustrated. Your content needs to be found easily, preferably in your home or sub-navigation bars.
8. It’s not mobile-friendly.
   Most users view websites on their smartphones, so if your website isn’t optimized for it, you may lose people. Not to mention, being mobile-friendly will boost your SEO. Google has recently added to their algorithm, a factor that boost sites that are tech-forward and mobile-friendly.

We know it, creating a website and driving traffic there is tricky. There are plenty of factors that could potentially turn people away before they even get a chance to review your product or service. Contact us at Orbit for a website consultation.