It’s very common to see websites that look good on the surface but are not actually delivering the goods in terms of sales. Sadly, many small business owners who have such websites don’t know they are unwittingly turning away their customers. If you are a business owner and it seems your sales funnel is stuck, your website might be responsible.

Your website, in many cases, is the first point of contact between you and potential customers. Therefore, if it’s not optimized, your business might end up not making sales through it. Rather than engaging in trial and error, you can Hire a Geek with the assurance that they know how to help you get more sales. The truth is that certain errors may be chasing away your visitors even before they become leads.

To ensure you don’t continue to suffer this, here are five website design mistakes that may be killing your sales funnel and what you can do to fix them.

1. You Have No Clear Call to Action (CTA)

A Call to Action (CTA) is an important element that tells visitors what they should do next. When there is no CTA, visitors become stuck, as they don’t know what to click or where to go. Since visitors to your site aren’t mind readers, they can’t automatically buy something or service without being led or told to.

In some cases, the CTA is present but weak. For instance, if a button simply says “Click Here,” it doesn’t give any explanation of what the guest should expect if they click. On the other hand, examples of strong CTAs are “Book a Free Call” or “Download Your Free Guide.” You can see how clear, specific, and simple these CTAs are, unlike “Click Here.”

Here’s how to fix an unclear call to action:

• Make use of action words such as “Get,” “Buy,” or “Start.”
• Position your CTA buttons where visitors can easily see them, like the top, middle, and bottom of your pages.
• Make the buttons easy to click; you can make the buttons large to set them apart from other elements on the page.

CTAs are important because they serve as direction signage, showing guests where to go next. If they are missing or unclear, visitors can get lost and leave. When such happens, sales will continue to drop until the issue is fixed.

2. Your Site Takes Too Long to Load

People rarely have the time to wait for your website to load due to the increasingly short attention spans. You can visit different websites to find out what the average attention of a human adult is. For most people, if it takes more than five seconds, they’ll click away. So, even before the site finishes loading, you’re already losing sales, which is bad for business.

Bad web hosting, messy codes, and big image files are some common reasons for slow sites. These are the things you need to work on and not just the site’s appearance. No matter how good it might look, it doesn’t matter if no one sees it.

To speed things up, do the following:

• Before you upload large images, compress them.
• Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix.
• Choose a reputable hosting provider with fast servers.

3. Your Website Is Not Mobile-Friendly

More than 50% of internet users use their phones. Therefore, many websites are optimized to provide the best mobile experience. If your site doesn’t work well on mobile, smartphone users won’t stay. As a result, you’ll keep losing leads.

For your site to be mobile-friendly, it must fit any screen. The buttons must be easy to click, and the text must be readable. People will readily leave your site if they have to scroll sideways or zoom in to see certain content.

To make your site mobile-ready:

• Use a responsive design that can easily adjust to the size of the user’s screen.
• Check your site on different mobile devices before putting it live.
• Make buttons large enough that visitors can tap them with a finger.

One way to ensure mobile friendliness is to think about how you use your phone. If you’re like many of us, when you visit a site, you want quick answers and easy actions. That’s the same thing your customers want, so you should design the site to address these needs.

4. Your Design Is Cluttered and Confusing

As good as information can be, too much at once can be very overwhelming. The truth is, nobody wants to look at 10 buttons at the same time or read a lengthy block of text. People get confused when your website’s design is messy, which will eventually make them leave.

Your website should have a good layout that will guide your guests in an orderly manner. The content should be easy to focus on without so many distractions such as pop-ups or ads. When there is clutter, the buyer’s journey slows down, and your sales funnel will begin to leak.

To remove clutter and make your design simple:

• Make use of white space to separate sections.
• Focus on one central message for each page.
• Get rid of any element that is not designed to help visitors take action.

In ensuring your website is clutter-free, you should think of the site like a clean desk. If the desk is clean and free from clutter, it makes it easier to focus. In the same vein, your customers will pay more attention to your central message when the site is clean.

5. You’re Ignoring SEO

Even if you are selling the best product or offering the best service, it doesn’t matter if people can’t find the site. That’s where search engine optimization (SEO) comes in. With proper SEO practices, you can develop your site to the point it appears in the top Google search results. You can read this article to learn more about proper SEO practices.

Some business owners think that SEO is just about adding keywords here and there. Well, it’s much more than that; it includes how your URLs look, the speed of your site, and how the pages are written. Optimizing all these factors and following SEO rules are necessary if you want your site to appear on search engines’ search results.

You can carry out these simple SEO improvements:

• Write clear titles and meta descriptions for each page.
• Use keywords in image names and headlines.
• Add internal links to connect other content of yours.

SEO is a way of getting people to find you. This is important because if they can’t find you, they can’t buy from you. Therefore, prioritize search engine optimization.

Conclusion

Your website should work for you, not against you. Fixing these five mistakes can help you get more leads, more customers, and more sales. Don’t let your sales funnel leak because of things you can fix.

These tips are applicable for all types of websites, including those that serve local customers. Many local businesses do not tend to take their web presence seriously. Understand that an efficiently implemented local SEO can boost your sales, converting the visitors from your funnel to physical customers.

With the right help, your business can stand out even if it is in a city like La Palma, California. Get the help you need now.