Does Your Website Suck? Common Mistakes Small Business Owners Make

How do you know if your website is not making the grade?

If you are one of the millions of small business owners that has a website and cannot for the life of you understand why it is not making you money or generating new customers, it’s time for a reality check.

In the following post I am going to discuss the most common mistakes that most small business owners are making and how you can fix them right now.

If you are one of the few that still does not have a website, you need to read this post and avoid making these mistakes before you start building one.

I am not going to talk about keywords, link structure or code writing here.  That is a different post topic. I am going to talk specifically about content. What you say on your website and how the customer views your pages.

The number one mistake most small business owners are making with their website is the focus.

Your website should be totally focused on the customers needs. Ask yourself these simple questions. “Why would someone come to my website?” “What do they need?”

Unfortunately, most business owners focus on themselves. You can read all about their company history, their products and services, their features.  Not only is it boring to the reader, it fails to address the reason they came to your website in the first place.

When building a website, the most important thing that you can do is make it all about the customer.  Sure, you’ve been in business for 20 years. Yes, you have products and services. It’s great that you have great customer service.

But, what your website visitors want is solutions to their specific problems and ways to achieve their goals.

If you want your phone to ring and your cash register to hum, make the website all about them.

Think outside the box and create ways to engage your customer and address their specific needs. There is a place for your company history and the other great things about your company,  just avoid building the main theme of  your website around those things.

Problem solving is your business!

To have a powerful website that generates action you need to anticipate peoples problems and challenges and address them.

People don’t buy a drill because they need a drill. They buy a drill because they need a hole! The drill is the solution to getting them the hole they need.

People don’t call a plumber because they need a plumber. They call a plumber because they need their toilet fixed or a leaky pipe repaired.

People don’t go to the barber because they need a haircut. They go because they want to look good to themselves and others.

It’s time to sit down with a pen and paper and start listing all the reasons people need your products and services. What problems exist in their life that would cause them to visit your website?

If you are having trouble making the list, ask your current customers and note their answers.

Now, put yourself in the shoes of the website viewer and go to your website. Does your website address these problems right up front or does the visitor have to sift through a ton of unnecessary info to find what they are looking for?

Can the website viewer easily find what they need? Is the focus on them from the second they enter your website?

Go through your web content and count the times you use the words, “me, us, or your company name” versus the number of times you use the word “YOU”.

When people see the word YOU in the text they are reading or hear it in the video they are watching they feel you are talking to them versus at them.

After you have created a customer focused website that addresses the common problems your customers are looking to solve it is time to eliminate the clutter.

Website viewers should not have to search for answers on your website. It is very frustrating to the viewer to have to search through endless text and links to find what they need. Keep your web pages simple and laid out so it is easy to find everything they need.

Avoid clutter. I know, it is tempting to jam as much info as you can on your home page. Your web pages should be easy to read and not too busy. The viewer wants to scan through your web pages to find what they need. Avoid the urge to turn your web pages into a huge mess of links and text that is hard on the eyes.

Put the links to your best stuff up top. Create a headline that addresses the main topic and scatter your sub headlines with more important info. People don’t read web pages, they scan them. they usually stop at larger bold sub headlines and only read the text if it is pertinent to their problem.

Make your web pages relevant!

Have you ever clicked a link expecting one thing and getting sent to a page that had nothing to do with what you thought you were getting? It happens all the time.

If you offer many different products or services, make sure you segment them into separate pages and make your link to them obvious and in a place where the reader can easily find them and click.

Make sure the page you send them to addresses that specific problem and how you will provide the solution. If you offer 5 different services, list them and link to them. Don’t try to jam everything on your home page.

If you are targeting different types of customers then make sure you provide a link to a page specific to that person, and again, design the page to address their problem.

Don’t try to be everything to everybody!

Every business has a primary target market and then secondary target markets. Your web pages should be designed specifically for those people and each web page optimized to reach them.

One of the biggest mistake business owners make is trying to target all their markets on one page. This leads to page clutter, confusion, and above all makes it impossible to target a specific search phrase for search engine optimization. Having visible and clearly marked links helps all your visitors find what they need.

Niche marketing is a powerful way for small business owners to grab market share from bigger businesses. When you choose a special area of your business to focus on it presents you as an expert on that subject and targets a smaller but ready to buy audience.

If you really want to focus on smaller niches, you may want to buy a few more domains and create a few mini websites geared specifically to that target audience.

Call To Action!

If you are marketing to people that need problems solved and provide them with solutions, you need to have a call to action! This is so important if you expect people to contact you right then when they are a hot prospect.

Tell them what to do next!

Don’t assume people know what to do next! Ask them to call you. Offer them an email alternative such as an opt in box. Remember, people search at all hours and your phone number does them no good if it is 2 am and you are closed.

It is so important to get them to take some sort of action while they are on your website. If they leave without a contact, they are probably gone forever.

Offer them a coupon, or a special online discount and have them fill out a form to get it. Just a simple name and email address is all you need. The key is to trade something of value for their personal info. If there is no trade, very few people will opt in.

Capturing personal info allows you to create a dialog and follow up. Don’t just rely on the standard contact us page. Put your call to action on every page so the viewer does not have to search.

You should talk about yourself.

Please understand that talking about yourself is important, but only in the context of how it effects the reader.  People do want to know about your background, your training, testimonials, because it will help reinforce their reasons for selecting you.

They only want to know about you after you have told them about all the fantastic reasons (benefits) you can help them solve their problem or achieve their goals.

What you should do right now!

Go to your website and pretend you are a prospect that just arrived at your website.  Read through your copy, look at your page layout, and evaluate your link structure.

What does your website focus on? Is it talking about the viewer and putting all the great benefits they will receive from choosing you? Or, is it all about you and all the boring stuff that your prospects really don’t care about?

Just because you think it is important to list all the great things about you does not mean the viewer cares and it probably will not translate into sales.

The bottom line is, your website should be making you money by attracting new customers and generating leads.

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