What’s wrong with my website?

Are you frustrated with your website and how it performs? You’re not alone. Many website owners (often people running a small business) are disappointed that their website isn’t very successful.

Even if your website was created by a professional web designer, there are still countless things that can be wrong with it. But perhaps they’re easily fixed – as long as you know what is actually causing the problems.

Let’s do some troubleshooting!

Here are some typical website problems with possible reasons & solutions:

Problem 1: Nobody can find the site and you get no visitors

What could be wrong?

  • SEO: Maybe your site isn’t optimised for search engines.
    You should be using the exact terms on your website (in your title tag, headings and content) that people who are looking for your types of products or services would type into search engines. If your title tag says “Homepage of ABCD Ltd” and your main heading says “Welcome to our website”, it’s really time to apply some SEO.
  • Accessibility: Search engines may have trouble accessing your site or seeing the content.
    Check if your web pages are indexed by the major search engines. If not, you’ll need to dig deeper to find the reason for this. Also make sure that your content is presented as plain HTML text and not as part of graphics or animations, which search engines can’t ‘read’.

Problem 2: People leave your website immediately after arriving

 What could be wrong? 

  • Coding/Design: This could be a technical or design issue.
    Is your site compatible with all operating systems and browsers and does it look OK using different screen resolutions? Is it mobile-friendly? Older sites in particular may be incompatible with modern browsers and smartphones. Your website may look weird and completely distorted on different systems. Or you may have gone overboard with colours and animations, sending people running for cover. Time for a health check, makeover or new website maybe?
  • Content/Writing: Perhaps it’s the copy on your site that’s driving people away.
    The problem may be that your content is vague, boring or incomprehensible and doesn’t address your visitors’ needs. Everyone is in a hurry nowadays. You have a few seconds to make people decide to stay on your website. If they can’t see what they need right away, they may leave and try another site from the search results instead.
  • Usability: Is the layout and structure of your site logical and the navigation easy to use?
    Most people are lazy when it comes to websites. They expect certain things in certain places and if your website uses a very unconventional structure, presentation or navigation, people may be confused and give up, opting for an easier alternative somewhere else.
  • SEO: This could also be a search engine optimisation issue again.
    If you’re not targeting the right keywords with your web pages, you may be attracting people to your site who are actually looking for something else. Use descriptive and meaningful words in your page title tags and content that matches people’s search queries, so you get qualified traffic rather than random clicks and a high ‘bounce rate’ (people leaving your site immediately).

Problem 3: Nobody contacts you or buys your products

What could be wrong? 

  • Call to Action: Are you  making it easy enough for people to take the action you want them to take?
    Is there a big “buy now” or “request a quote” button right beside or below the content? Every web page needs a strong call to action. Don’t just explain what you do and leave it at that, hoping people will click on the button to your contact page in the navigation menu. Guide your visitors to the page you want them to end up on.
  • Dead Links/Payment Service: Have you checked your links lately? Do they all still work correctly? How about your payment service, is that reliable? Go through the steps yourself and critically look at whether the process is smooth and error-free. There may be a stumbling block somewhere that you’re unaware of.
  • Marketing: Could the problem lie in your marketing and promotion or your business model?
    Have you actually done any market research? Do you know whether there is even a market for what you’re offering? If only 50 people per year are in the market for what you offer, you can’t expect hundreds to be checking out your website every month. And how about your USPs (unique selling propositions)? Are you highlighting the reasons people should use your services or buy from you? You should know what makes you unique and emphasise that.

Of course, there could be many other things wrong with your website, but these are some of the common issues that I wanted to highlight. The good thing is, they can be easily remedied and your website CAN be turned around to become a success.

If you still have trouble knowing why your website isn’t performing, I can help. For a fixed low price (barely covering my time spent), I will carry out a professional website analysis for you and send you an evaluation report that shows you problem areas and suggestions for solutions.

I can also help you out with quality web content by rewriting or editing your existing copy or writing new copy for your site. I specialise in SEO web content and am happy to help you with your search engine optimisation needs.

If you have any questions or want to discuss your website, please contact me. I’m a professional, international web copywriter and website usability & SEO expert and run the Content Writer website as part of my company Triple W Communications Pty Ltd.

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