Wondering why your “beautifully designed website” is not delivering the desired results? Then stay on. This article is for you.

Dear Business Owner, before I proceed to anything else, let me make it a point of emphasis here that a website is the powerhouse of your business. A website is part of the investment capital for your business. 

But, of course, there will be no need to own a website when it will not act as a lead generator; when it will not double the revenue or profits margin of your business. (Read the article on: 6 Mind-Blowing Ways a Website Boost your Nonprofit Organization’s Growth)

As we find ourselves entrapped in the 21st-century digital society, it is no news that everyone around you is directly or indirectly maximizing digital services to improve on their livelihoods. Smart businesses have taken advantage of this and are leveraging all digital channels to multiply sales and profits – which work pretty well.

You know, your website is the backbone of your entire digital marketing strategy. Consequently, poorly designed websites can bring traffic to an abrupt halt, and send potential customers seeking better services with your competitors. (You may check our article on: 5 Shocking Reasons why Hiring the Wrong Web Designer can Cost you All your Wealth

This article addresses the five most common, and potentially harmful website design mistakes that most web designers make. As a business owner, it is incumbent that you read on and be very keen, to avoid being a victim of a poorly designed website, or be able to easily know if your website is achieving the desired goals.

1. YOUR WEBSITE IS NOT RESPONSIVE.

One of the biggest web design mistakes is not incorporating a responsive display on your website. Responsive design means that your website should be able to automatically resize a webpage for optimal viewing on desktops, tablets and smartphones, (irrespective of the size of the device). This ensures that the site remains easy to navigate and have the potential to convert visitors, irrespective of the device they’re using.

Regrettably, having a walk-through in the websites of most businesses and organizations around, I find most of them not only unresponsive, but have a complete breakdown on mobile devices.

This is a great hindrance to all your digital marketing efforts. A website being the stop point of your digital marketing campaigns, it’s efficiency in functionality is not negotiable. It has, not only to be up and running, but to get easily adaptable to the user’s devices in order to permit them to have a comfortable walkthrough in your marketing funnel.

Unfortunately, most web designers are not familiar with this trend. Worse still, clients (website owners) aren’t either. The consequence is that most of your marketing efforts will end in futile since the home that hosts the conversion funnel is itself unwelcoming and unappetizing to the potential clients.

2. POOR LOADING SPEED.

Most websites are not only unresponsive, but very slow to load pages. One thing you should note here is that no web user is ever patient enough to give a webpage several seconds to load.

A poor website load speed has a direct effect on page views, bounce rate, conversion rate, customer satisfaction, etc.

Studies show that 53% of web surfers leave pages that take longer than 3 seconds to load.

In case you are still wondering how fast a website should load, it is safe to say that under 3 seconds is the best, across devices.

Optimizing a website to achieve this is a great challenge to most web designers, especially the ones who are more interested in executing the project than thinking about how lucrative the website would be to the owner.

At  Faithworks Tech, we are business growth partners. We don’t just build websites; we are business growth companions. So, we are even more concerned with the aftermath of your business than seeking to execute the project.

3. MISGUIDED CALL TO ACTION (CTA)

A road is as good as it can take you somewhere. Similarly, no matter how good your webpage is, if it doesn’t have the desired CTA, sorry, it is useless. 

Every day, you are probably prompted to do something by a call to action, even if you have never come across the term before. Call to action in web design practice is a marketing term designed to prompt an immediate response or encourage immediate action from a website visitor. A CTA most often refers to the use of words or phrases that can be incorporated into sales copies, advertising messages, or web pages, which compel an audience to act in a specific way.

The call to action is a way to direct focus and give the visitor a clear route to accomplishing a goal. When developing call to action buttons, consider what you want the visitor to do: what your primary aim is, and how this fits in with your marketing objectives. It might be getting visitors to login, signup, download a free report, subscribe to a newsletter, make a payment, do a purchase, etc.

It is great to note that CTA doesn’t just end at the level of the CTA button. Once you have the visitor’s attention, you must complete the process and give them the information they need. Don’t stop once the button has been placed. Ensure the destination behind the button is usable, well designed and gives the visitor exactly what they were promised.

4. POOR UI (USER INTERFERE) AND UX (USER EXPERIENCE) DESIGN

Well, this term may not seem very obvious to you, but it has accounted for your attitude and feedback toward just anything. The term “User Experience” refers to the interaction between the user and a product or service.

In designing a website, you must think about how the user feels when they navigate the website, and how easy it is for the user to accomplish their desired tasks.

For example: How easy is the purchase and checkout process when shopping through your e-commerce website? Does your online banking app make it easy for your clients to manage their account/money? The ultimate purpose of UX design is to create easy, efficient, relevant, and all-around pleasant experiences for the user. Any website that falls short of this is a vexation to the user’s spirit.

On the other hand,  we have User Interface (UI) design. In web design, user interface is the graphical layout of webpages. It consists of the buttons users click on, the text they read, the images, sliders, entry forms, transitions, animations, and all the rest of the visual items the user interacts with when they login to a website. Any sort of visual element, interaction, or animation must all be designed.

User Interface is more concerned with aesthetics. It’s up to the designer to make sure the website’s interface is attractive, visually-stimulating and appropriately sutting to match the purpose and/or functionality of the website. And they need to make sure every single visual element feels united, both aesthetically, and in purpose.

These, UI and UX, as mentioned earlier, are very fundamental in web design and development. At every point in the design process, the web designer must put their legs in the shoes of the website visitor to appreciate the friendly and fulfilling nature of the website.

5. ABSENCE OF A CONVERTING SALES FUNNEL

Every website has a story, but unless you market it successfully, your message will fail to go through.

If your website can’t get your message out, you’ll find it difficult to obtain the goals for which it was built – to convert visitors into clients.

One aspect of successfully marketing for nonprofits is to harness the power of a website funnel.

Before we proceed, it is necessary to explain to you what a website funnel is. A website funnel, also known as marketing or conversion funnel, is a series of webpages and other external sources that scrupulously work together to guide your visitors to the desired action which is creating a CONVERSION.

A conversion is the goal you want your site to achieve, when it receives visitors, whether it is subscribing for an email newsletter, making a purchase in your online shop, or making a donation to your non-profit.

Every web project must first define or sort out what it targets as conversions before engaging in their marketing campaigns.

There is a systematic process that precedes any sales in a business. Consciously or unconsciously, every client goes through four stages in a purchase chain: The awareness stage, the interest stage, the engagement stage, and finally the action stage.

In the awareness stage, it is the first time the visitor or lead is coming in contact with your business or organization. This may be through a search engine, advertisement, or social media page. Then arrive at your website.

Once in your website, the second stage in the funnel is the interest stage. As the visitor continues through the website, they show interest in your organization as you guide them where you want them to go. Here you keep your landing page appealing to the needs of the visitor.

The third stage is the engagement stage: At this stage, you try to conserve the visitor by giving them engaging content. This may be by watching a video, reading a story, or examining pictures. Whatever it is, the content must be tailored toward addressing the needs of the potential customer.

The last phase is the action stage: This is the point where you want your visitors to take action: making a purchase or any other desired action. This must come after you have given them enough reason to do so in the previous stages.

A website that is built without a proper Sales funnel is nothing more than a dog that can’t bark and can’t bite.

CONCLUSION – THE WAY FORWARD

Dear business builder/owner, you are probably reading this article from your smartphone or computer, and you probably cannot cite up to ten people you know today who do not own a smartphone as well.

This already is a huge marketing research information at your disposal to pursue your business goals.

At Faithworks Tech, we use web design and digital marketing services to trigger the desired growth. We are experts in web design and digital marketing services that give you the real results you desire.

Don’t just take our words for it. Hear from our happy clients.

Take the next step in growing your business using digital marketing. Connect with one of our expert digital strategists to learn how Faithworks Tech can help you reach your business goals.