5 reasons why your website is not attracting your best customers

Since your organization's website is a cornerstone of your marketing efforts, you likely invest time and money into its maintenance, hoping for a good ROI.

How is your website performing? Are you getting the kind of traffic you want to see? Are visitors converting into customers?

If not, there could be a number of factors contributing to poor outcomes. Fortunately, you can resolve some of your website's problems with a thoughtful plan and a few minor adjustments.

Have a website that looks like a ghost town? Turn those tumbleweeds 
into visitors with the right strategies. 

Here are some common reasons websites fail to attract new customers, as well as some solutions to put your website back on the right track.

1. Unfocused keywords and SEO

Like big road signs pointing in your direction, the appropriate use of keywords and search engine optimization strategies will help visitors find you again.

Remember, when thinking about keywords to, imagine your ideal customer. When he or she sits down to find the solution to a problem that you can fix, what words or phrases is he or she likely to type in? Those phrases should form the basis of your keyword strategy.

Regarding SEO, it is important to remember that the quality of your links largely determines your page rank with search engines. The right links will drive traffic to your site. Think of link-building as constructing entrance ramps from the interstate to your town. HubSpot offers the following tips for link building:

• Submit your site to web directories
• Communicate with others in your industry to encourage links to your site from reputable sources
• Create content that people will want to link to their sites

Your website must also be optimized for mobile so that visitors can find you via any device they choose to use. Failing to do this makes it unlikely that your website traffic will increase measurably.

Once you have increased traffic to your website, some other issues might arise that potentially make that traffic take a U-turn back to the interstate.

2. Little or no fresh content 

A lively website with fresh blogs, downloads, and social media updates, encourages visitors to stick around. Examine your website with a critical eye. Does it look like an abandoned neighborhood? If visitors notice that you have not updated your blog in several weeks or your content references things that happened three years ago, they may not be motivated to linger on your site.

Remember that the internet is a place of instant gratification and ever-changing trends, and many audiences prefer new, current and interesting content. If you have not updated the look, feel, and content on your website lately, consider what your audience might like to see and hear and give it a go.

3. Unclear guidance to forms or landing pages

If you do not have a clearly defined route for your visitors to take to get to the point of conversion, know that most visitors will not click around until they figure it out - they will leave. You need to guide them to where you want them to go.

Think about how long you are willing to search on a website to find a solution. Now consider your audience, their time constraints, and lifestyle demands. What kind of explicit guidance do they need on your website to quickly get where you want them to go?

Want visitors to latch on to your brand? Use targeted calls-to-action
to guide them and give them what they’re looking for.   

Let's look at your website from a first-time visitor's perspective because you already know exactly where to go and how to navigate your website. It can be difficult to see it as uninitiated visitors will see it. To solve this problem, enlist the help of those who are not intimately familiar with your site. Get them to navigate through your site and then ask them what they think. Listen and apply appropriate suggestions.

Once you identify the areas where extra direction is needed, craft clear calls-to-action to help your visitors get to their ultimate destination of conversion.

4. A lack of customer-focused copy

Have you ever been to one of those little towns with an incomprehensible traffic circle that leads drivers around some strange monument?

Do not let your website be guilty of the same error in judgment. Avoid creating a monument to yourself on your website. Remember why visitors are traveling through: They are looking for a solution to their specific problem, not for a dissertation about the wonders of your business.

While some information about you is important and even desired, for the most part, website visitors want to know how to solve their own problems. Provide content that addresses that need, and you have your audience hooked.

5. Ordinary or disingenuous branding

Have you ever noticed while driving down the interstate that most towns on the route have the same gas stations, restaurants, and hotels, with virtually nothing to help the casual observer to distinguish them from a hundred other towns on the route?

Your website can fall into a similar trap as those largely undifferentiated towns. Remember that your website is competing with thousands of other sites on the web. To stand out from the crowd, you must provide something unique.

Think of what makes your business special. What do you offer that no one else can? With what characteristic of your brand will your target audience most want to align themselves?  Once you have the answer to those questions, make certain your website clearly conveys that unique purpose in all of your messaging.

Maintaining an authentic company vision is what will make your brand the “corner store” of town—the place that stands out from all the interchangeable businesses that dot the landscape because it has taken the time to establish its unique identity and understand its customers' needs.

Build your brand into the “corner store” – the place with the strong
identity and thorough grasp of customer needs. 

The takeaway

Your website is an essential component of your inbound marketing strategy. Following the tips above will help you make it the type of website that attracts traffic, engages your audience, and converts them into leads and loyal advocates of your brand.

To learn more about how we can help, get a free inbound marketing assessment right now. Our website design specialists look forward to hearing from you.

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