Does your business suffer from ‘Boring Website Syndrome’?
Let's face it some things in life are boring, like watching paint dry, but boring should never belong on your website. A boring website will scare people away quicker than being locked in a room with spiders and snakes.
Your website is there to generate interest in your business. It needs to be attractive enough to bring potential clients to it and compelling enough to keep them there, hopefully turning them into actual clients.
So how do you know if your business suffers from ‘Boring Website Syndrome’ (BWS)?
We’ve compiled the top five signs to look out for:
1. Too much text, not enough images
If you click on to a website and see nothing but text, how long do you stay on that website? Not long?
Big blocks of text with no visual breaks make it difficult to concentrate and will cause potential clients to lose interest very quickly.
Additionally, they will start to scan instead of reading, potentially missing your message.
The simple solution is to break up the text with relevant photographs, although try to avoid using too many images, as that is just as bad.
By using headers to section your text, this makes it easier on the eye and your content is easier to read and digest. It also provides a better structure for search engine optimisation (SEO).
2. Out-of-date content
How often is the content updated on your website?
Do you have a blog? If so, when was the last time it was updated it?
A website where the latest blog post is from 2016 sends out the message that you either don't have anything interesting to say or your website isn't a priority.
As a business owner it is difficult to juggle all the hats you need to wear, and taking time to write a regular blog can be extremely time-consuming, when you could be working on other revenue generating tasks.
There are many ways to keep content fresh but writing a blog is, by far, the easiest way and you can create articles on as many topics in your industry as you like. Other ways to keep content fresh include adding testimonials or even advertising offers and discounts.
Updating your website on a regular basis is a big plus point for search engine optimisation and keeps visitors to your site engaged. An active blog also gives them a reason to keep coming back!
However, if you don’t have time, why not think about outsourcing this task to a third-party.
3. Mixed messages
When it comes to website content you need to be clear about the message you are sending out and what action you want visitors to take.
Without purpose or focus your website could look awkward and be a little bit pointless.
Put yourself in the shoes of potential clients and think about what information they need to find when they visit your website.
For example, if you are a personal trainer you don't need to tell them what personal training is, chances are they already know having searched for a personal trainer in the first place. What you need to do is tell them how your training is going to make a difference to their lives and entice them to click further into your website.
You also need to ensure there is a clear call-to-action on each page of your website, e.g., mailing list sign-up, and make them easily recognisable, clear and to the point.
4. High bounce rate
Just what is a 'bounce rate'?
The 'bounce rate' of a website is a measure of how many people visited your homepage and left without taking any further action.
The higher the bounce rate, the more likely it is that your website has failed to attract visitors' attention. On the plus side though it does indicate good search engine ranking and a good web presence.
As your website is your online brochure advertising the services and/or products your business sells, a high bounce rate can impact revenue.
To improve, i.e., lower, your bounce rate, work with your website designer/developer and build each and every page as an experience for visitors.
Interaction such as social shares, forms to fill out, comment pages, links to relevant material and engaging calls to action will all help to reduce the bounce rate.
As you make changes to your website, keep a track on how this impacts your bounce rate by adding the information to a simple spreadsheet: what the bounce rate is, the change you made and the bounce rate one week later.
5. Poor quality
Poor quality includes anything from using an outdated design or poor choices of colour and font (avoid Comic Sans) as well as what you write.
These days the internet moves at lightning speed, so not only do you need to ensure your content is constantly fresh (see point 2), you also need to keep your website design looking fresh and up-to-date.
If your website looks dated, it sends the signal that the business is not professional, legitimate, is struggling, or worse closed.
With plenty of free website builder sites around these days offering template layouts to help you build a website quickly and easily, unless you make an attempt to make it unique you can run the risk that it will look identical to the thousands of other sites that used the same template. In terms of SEO, an identical site built using a standard template uses the same code. To a search engine these websites all look the same and are therefore hard to index and rank.
A website refresh however, doesn't have to involve a complete make-over, a simple colour or font refresh could help brighten your site up. Many organisations do this on an annual basis, and a site built with this in mind can do this easily with minimum disruption.
Your web designer/developer should be on top of the latest website trends to ensure this process is seamless.
Conclusion
To ensure your website stands out from the crowd and puts your business in the best light possible:
- Choose a modern, customisable design with modern colours and sleek fonts
- Make each page an experience and include a call-to-action on each one
- Be clear on your message and create content that informs
- Ensure text is broken up into sections, making it easier to read
- Create a website that is as unique as your business
This article was written for a web designer