Partner Article

How your website could be killing your business

Now it seems like everyone has a website. Whether they are selling Superman Underoos, or high priced Jimmy Choo shoes, entrepreneurs know that in order to succeed in business, they must have a website. When it comes to having a website for your business, it is essential that it be well designed and high functioning in order to be an effective tool. While most business owners understand this, many don’t know that the sites that they have up on the internet, are doing more harm to their business than good. Here are some of the most common mistakes that you could be making with the design of your website that could be killing your business.

Too Much Information

When designing your website, the first instinct you may have is to put as much information as you can on the landing page. You may be thinking that you want the customer to have all of the important information about your business and the site as soon as possible. However, doing this will almost certainly turn your customer off. You only want to include the most important information on your landing page, to avoid cheapening your user’s experience.

Poor Product Descriptions

If you are in the business of selling products, the only way you are going to be able to do that is through detailed descriptions. When your customers head to your site, they don’t have the benefit of being able to handle the products. They can’t pick up the product and look at it from every angle, and they can’t read any of the information on the label. If the product descriptions on your site are lacking in originality and, more importantly, detail, you will surely lose the sale to your competitor. you need to think of every question a customer might ask about a product and answer it in the product description, advises Omar Kattan, Chief Strategy Officer at Sandstorm Digital. You want to avoid simply listing the technical features of your products. Instead highlight the benefits your customers can receive when they purchase the product.

Confusing Checkout Process

One of the biggest issues customers have with online shopping is the checkout process. Too many sites make the process of handing over credit card information too difficult and confusing. The more steps they have to take to complete their order, the more likely they will become frustrated and abandon the process before completing the transaction. To make the process less daunting and more user friendly, you should make your checkout process a single page that allows your customers to enter their credit card information, billing and shipping information, and allow them to check their order.

No Way to Search

If your website doesn’t include a customer search for common items and terms on your site, you are setting yourself up for failure, especially if you sell a lot of products. You don’t want your customers to have to scroll through a list of products in order to find what they are looking for. This is not only an inefficient way for your customers to be spending their time while on your site, but it is also frustrating for them. With a simple search bar, customers can spend their time shopping on your site, rather than wasting their time looking around for the product that they need. It is advisable that you hire either a professional web developer to take care of that for you (which can be rather expensive) or better yet, go in for an online service provider like Shopify, which offers customized template design solutions catered towards individual business needs. No matter which way you want to go, it’s important that you do it and come up with a website which is user-friendly and helps your customers find what they are looking for without a hassle.

Confusing Navigation

A quick way to lose a sale is by making it difficult for a customer to navigate through your site. If your customers can’t find exactly what they are looking for within a few clicks, they will most likely give up and head somewhere else. Site navigation tends to be something that gets the least amount of thought, but it can have the most impact on your sales if not designed properly. You need to make sure that your navigational links are properly planned to make it easy for customers to browse through your site without getting lost. To ensure they can get to the checkout page no matter where they are in your site, make sure there is a clearly visible checkout button on every page.

Designing a website that is both pleasing to the eye and highly functional isn’t an easy task, but it is an essential part of your business. If you want the customers who find their way to your site to stick around and buy your products then you will want to avoid these common pitfalls, according to Todd Wasserman, business editor for Mashable. By avoiding these pitfalls you can increase your conversion rate and avoid becoming just another business with a website.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Olena Thorpe .