Problems faced by small business owners in building a business website?
The accessibility of progressively more intense and moderate technology has been an extraordinary help for small businesses of all stripes. It has additionally implied that small businesses need to deal with countless alternatives and locate the most ideal approaches to utilize innovation to accomplish business purposes.
Couple of independent companies favor open source CMS like WordPress, Joomla, Opencart or any Opensource CMS to get site for nothing without help of any specialized master. Right around 1/3 of small business owners manage their websites themselves, disregarding key site functions that customers need, as responsive and easy to use configuration, engaging and relevant new content, and social media integration.
Have you ever wondered what makes a site genuinely incredible?
The heart of most advertising effort has been the site. The most serious issue with most sites however is that they are in a flash forgettable. They say an indistinguishable thing from your competitors. You see two conceivable outcomes from this issue.
- Most customers will quickly lose interest and click away from the site.
- If they stay they’ll discover no motivation to choose you, in light of the fact that there’s no separating message. They click away with no motivation to return.
In order to help small business owners need to understand exactly what is harming business websites. Here are the most common errors we see, have a look at below:
1. Not Mobile-Ready
Now mobile friendly website is mandatory for any business to get online sales performance! As per Google update April 2015, Google already made changes in search algorithm, if website is not mobile friendly, your website have less chances to get new customer who use mobile devices to search online!One year before, the number of desktop users was twice that of mobile-only users! Yet 60% of all small-business owners do not have a mobile friendly website, or know if their website is responsive and mobile capable.
If website is not mobile friendly, your website have less chances to get new customer
2. Poor Design / Bad User Experience
Small business owners have main concern with price involved in new website development. The fact is, most business owners do not have complete understanding of purpose behind having a website. To save upfront cost, they take alternate ways by using free CMS like WordPress, Joomla, Opencart etc. or low cost hosted website solutions. Most often that leads to poor design or lack of required support, that convey negative message to customers.Visitors who face bad user experience will never convert to your customer. Even worse, they most likely will tell their friends about the bad experience and keep them away as well. Yes, you will save a few dollars up front, but you will lose a lot more in missed opportunities for lead generation and lost sales in the long run!
Visitors who face bad user experience will never convert to your customer.
Also Read:
- How to Promote Your Products Outside Amazon/Flipkart
- Your Products Will NEVER Sell Online Without This!
- Top Tips To Sell Through Own Website Rather Than Marketplace Website In India
- Should You Sell on Marketplaces or Build Your Own eCommerce Site?
3. Slow page load times
To get rid of issue I mentioned in point#2, business owners purchase ready-made paid themes and get website done with good look and user interface. No one think, these low cost themes come with lot on unwanted codes and functions which they do not need which make website heavy and slow in performance.With fast loading websites, your website visitors will be happier, and a faster web will be better for all…This will directly improve your website’s user experience. Instead of wasting time on keyword Meta tags, you can focus on some very easy, straightforward, small steps that can really improve how users perceive your site.
Ready-made themes come with lot on unwanted codes and functions which they do not need which make website heavy and slow in performance.
4. Confusing or Mixed Navigation
Customers should know why they are on your website, why they should choose you and what next steps they have to take. Sections should be well defined. Best sellers, hot offers, quick contact, payment modes and other terms have to be well presented on webpage. 93 % of small business websites do not display a contact email or business addresses and 49% do not list any phone numbers on their home page. Almost 68% website visitors do not know what next after clicking ADD TO CART or confusing checkout options.If visitors do not know about easy steps to navigate your website or an easy way to contact you they will move on to your competitors.Remember, it is up to you to tell your potential customers what you want them to do! No, you are not being rude! Your website visitors expect you to do so. Because if you don’t they will get the feeling you don’t really care about them. And you don’t want that, do you?
Visitors do not know what next after clicking ADD TO CART or confusing checkout options.
5. No Performance Metrics
Many FREE resources are available online to track the performance of your website:
Google Page Insight – can be used to find the loading and speed performance of website.
Google Analytics – can be used to track organic or paid reach, or their customer’s habits and needs.
Google Webmaster Tools – can be used to track issues in website, keywords performance. Approx. 75% do not use analytics tools to measure their website’s performance and 60% do not feel they have to take action against issues shown in analytics and to resolve issues. Unresolved issues only become worse over time.I really don’t understand why any savvy small business owner would turn down free help!
Unresolved issues only become worse over time.
6. No Social Media Links
69% small business owners do not know*, digital marketing is one of the best ways to lead generation. According to Statista there were 1.74 BILLION monthly active users (MAUs) on social networks in 2015! That number is expected to grow to 2.5 BILLION by 2018! Imagine of only 1/100th of 1% would engage with your small business!Customers should have option to share your products or services to others in his reach. No matter, this generate revenue or not but by enabling social sharing on your website you are enabling information about your business to reach people you might not have otherwise targeted. Yet 91% of all small business websites lack Facebook widgets, 94% lack Twitter widgets, and 83% lack Twitter links!
No matter, social media generate revenue or not but by enabling social sharing your business will reach people you might not have otherwise targeted.
7. Outdated Content
Small business websites that get updated frequently and regularly rank higher on search engines and are more engaging for visitors. But curating appropriate content and updating even a basic website can be time-consuming and frustrating for many small-business owners. Our content strategists and copywriters liken it to the content marketing marathon! 64% of small-business owners find the time necessary to update their website a major challenge, and 24% say the cost of maintaining their site is a big hurdle. And when small-business owners maintain their own site they run the risk of wasting time they could be using to cultivate new business.A much better option is to have your small business website built on a content management platform (CMS). I highly recommend that you engage the services of a professional web designer or web design agency. Yes, it will cost money. But you can count on professional support and training to get you started on the right foot. And you can usually count on ongoing support, just in case you get stuck.
24% say the cost of maintaining their site is a big hurdle.
8. No Dedicated IT Support
Many times small business owners are not as tech savvy as larger companies, or they don’t have the staff to provide for a full-time IT person. And that can be very dangerous! Without designated IT help small businesses risk security breaches or costly mistakes. 58% of small business websites have been cyber attacked. By going to the professionals IT services and support is usually provided with your small business website. One way to prevent many technical glitches, and the resulting costly downtime of your business website, is to see if your web designer or web design agency offers a monthly website maintenance plan. Most often such a plan includes regular updates to your website framework, plugins, and database, as well as optimizing performance and regular backups. Think of it this way, the money you spend on regular maintenance is a fraction of what it will cost to rebuild your website after it was hacked.
Prevent many technical glitches, and the resulting costly downtime of your business website.
In some cases it is easier, and therefore more cost and time effective to start over from scratch. This is especially true if your current small business website is not mobile-friendly, based on a template or hosted solution that is difficult to update, suffers from bad design, or has other major problems. And keep in mind that websites get dated as well.
If your small business website is 4 to 5 years old or more you really should consider getting a fresh look and a small business website that works for you, not against you! So look for a web design professional in your city, or simply reach out to us and we will be happy to help you!
