We get it, you were promised that your new website would have customers banging on your door to buy your products and services.

However, in reality, that’s just not the case. 

In this short guide, we will cover 9 reasons why your website may not be working for your business and how this can be improved. 

1) Tell your users how you can solve a problem not how amazing you are

No one likes to be sold too!

Visitors that come to your website aren’t looking for paragraph after paragraph detailing how incredible you are or what a great company you are to work with. 

They come as they have a want, a need or a have a problem that needs solving. 

In essence, they come to your site for a solution, not be overwhelmed with page after page detailing how awesome you are. 

Switch your thinking and become a problem solver. 

For example, let’s say that you are a courier company and deliver goods for other businesses.

You could say on your website “We’re a trusted company to worth with”. 

That may be true and it’s important that your website illustrates this fact. Wouldn’t it be better to have something like……

“99.9% of deliveries achieved at the correct date and time”. 

This could address a problem that your customers have with their current courier company, missing delivery times and creating angry clients. 

You offer a solution to them, and nearly 100% of deliveries are achieved which in turn gets them to contact you to find out more. 

Find out what your customers’ needs are and offer a way to satisfy these clearly on your website.

2) Focus on the benefits, not on the product or service itself

Following on from the above point, not only solve a problem but give the customer the benefit of what you offer. 

As a quick example, you may sell washing machines online.

Customers know they need a washing machine…..that’s a fact. 

Your customer may be short on time running a busy household and working full time. 

So what type of features or benefits would a busy household have when looking for a new machine?

• Show them that the machine in question has a fifteen-minute wash cycle able to get the direst clothes clean quickly.
• Is eco-friendly, costs less to run
• Has a drier sensor that will even dry their clothes and switch itself off when they are out at work.  

These ‘benefits’ will be super important to a potential customer.

It doesn’t matter what you sell or the industry that you operate in.

Think about what you offer and the benefit it could have to the customer, not just the product or service itself.

Try and always think about the phrase “which means that..” and apply this to everything you offer. 

For example

“We offer low-cost car insurance via our app” – Fact

“We offer low-cost car insurance via our app which means you can be fully insured within 5 mins, with no lengthy paperwork to complete” – Fact and benefit.

Which one is more appealing, encouraging you to buy?

Ensure you include not only what products and services you offer but how they will benefit your customers. 

Make this clear on the website. 

3) Create a brand, be more than just a business name.

Your brand is more than just the signage above your door. 

It’s how customers see your business, the quality of your goods and services and the perception people have of it. 

In short, it’s your reputation. 

When looking at your website, carefully consider the wording and the content. 

Does your website include factors such as independent customer reviews, logos of awards, links to any membership organisations or show you have been in business for 30+ years etc?

Look at everywhere you have a presence online (and off for that matter) and ensure that everything is in sync. The wording, content and message that you portray need to be consistent. 

Branding and reputation are entire topics on their own, however, you should start building them today, they will help your website become an asset for your business.

4) Customers need to like and trust you before they will buy

That may sound like a contradiction as a website is online, and new visitors would have little or no interaction with your staff. 

So how can this help your website work for your business?

Simply really. 

Think of all the ways that your business engages with potential customers. Whether that be on social media, email marketing or even through events or open days etc. 

For example, ensure that your social posts are human and offer the right tone of voice for your business and brand. 

By doing so, hopefully, before they even hit your website they have already started to like and trust you as a business. 

This goes a long way to help your website be more productive for your business as there is already a relationship there.

5) Give them a reason to say hello a second, third and fourth time

Your website needs to offer something that a potential customer would want to come back to on a regular basis. 

Like this blog for instance. 

We try and be helpful and offer simple and practical advice that our customers read and can use in their own businesses. 

It’s no different, regardless of the industry you’re in. 

If you have an online store you could offer a discount or coupon code to bring them back, a reward program or some kind of incentive. 

It could be advice, tips or even product reviews. 

Know what your customers need and give them a reason to return.

6) Get the right traffic

Getting crazily high traffic numbers on your website is great, although if they are all the wrong type of people then it won’t help one bit. 

This is part of knowing who your customer niche is and reaching out to them, whether that be through advertising, marketing or SEO. 

It’s no good selling over 60’s life insurance policies if 80% of the people that come to your website are in their 40’s. 

Work out who your buyer personas (potential customers) are and work to bring them to the website. 

It’s better to have a smaller number of the right type of people than massive numbers of anyone. 

Do your research, and once you know your market, follow the rest of these steps in this article. Create content, aim your SEO efforts and make sure your marketing activities are focused on these and you will soon start seeing the rewards.

7) Aim for an incredible user experience

How your website works and how customers interact with it is central to ensuring your site has the best possible chance of it working for you. 

For example, if your website is really slow or doesn’t work well on smaller device screens such as mobile phones, then you have big issues. 

Sometimes, it’s a good idea to get colleagues or friends to look at your website and try it. 

In many cases, you can be too close to the website and overlook areas or problems that someone new will find confusing or frustrating. 

Get feedback and implement any positive improvements you can make on the website. 

Keep trying to improve things all the time.

8) Content on your products and services, provide value, not just beautiful design 

We have seen it countless times, websites that look amazing on the surface. Has flashy features like parallax areas and an amazing UX. 

But when getting down to the nuts and bolts, product and service pages don’t really say that much to a potential customer. They have weak content and information.

It’s as if they have focused solely on the website design, style over substance.

Remember design is really important, but you need to have the fundamentals right in the first place.

If you’re selling products, they need great descriptions and images as a basic example.

Ensure that your website has clear and relevant wording with strong converting headlines and information.

9) Focus on your website

This is probably one of the most important reasons why your website isn’t working for your business. 

For many website owners, they get a website created, it may have been good or bad when first launched and that’s it. 

It’s just left there, in the hope that it will bring in more customers. 

Three years pass by and the website does nothing for the business. 

Your website is your shop window for your business. You need to focus on it and improve it at regular intervals. 

By checking your website and competitors’ sites your goal is to constantly improve, adding new content, updating areas and improving the experience of your users.

It’s only by doing this will the website work harder for your business.

Final thoughts:

The main way to improve a website so that it really works for you, bringing in new enquires and sales is to not forget about it. 

Try and book half a day a month at least (more if possible) to thoroughly review your website, content and website analytics. 

Look for simple ways to improve it.

Don’t let it idle online with no changes. If it’s not working for you today, it certainly won’t work for you tomorrow without change.