Nothing makes a customer say “no thanks” as quickly as a really gruesome home page. It could be horrendous colour choices or a naff logo. Or it could just be that things have aged badly. We sympathise a lot with businesses here because quality websites cost money; but things move quickly in the digital era. Sites that looked slicker than a brand-new Ferrari a few years ago now look like a third-hand Volvo.  

State of the art… in 1997 (sorry Exmouth View Hotel, we're sure you are so much greater than your website!)

The simple answer is to refresh or start again. Yes, it costs money, but how much income might you be losing due to a duff website?

While huge files are bad news, the same could also be said for poor pictures. Seeing as that opening image is the first impression the viewer will get, why settle for mediocre? Again, rather than thinking “how much will it cost to get quality pictures?” ask yourself “how much will it cost me if I don’t have quality pictures?” A good photographer is worth every penny.

4. Clutter  

This is a common trap for so many businesses. You might have started with a simple main message and a couple of tidy banners; three years later you have a dozen different windows all wrestling for space and attention. This can be a headache for the user and could easily detract from your main message.

The solution here is to sort your priorities. Your home page needn’t try and squeeze in every last thing you do. Smart, simple, logic always wins the day. Unless you are the infamous Ling’s Cars (below), whose chaotic site has not only become the stuff of legend, but a key sales tool! To get away with this sort of chaos though, it goes without saying that you need excellent customer service and a great reputation.

We may live in an age where the image is king, but poor text can let even the sexiest looking website down. Naturally, as a copywriter I’m biased here. As it happens, I am a bit of an English pedant. However, it still amazes me how many companies’ websites are littered with mistakes. At best this gives the impression that you are careless.

As with photography, penny-pinchers dislike investing in the necessary skills when it comes to engaging, high quality copy. The choice is yours, but the true cost to your business could be considerable

7. Poor standard of SEO

Most companies have some idea of how important search engine optimisation (SEO) is these days. When it comes to being found by your customers, it is an information war out there. If you are poorly armed in terms of incorporating key terms and technical knowhow, your business is at a significant disadvantage. The answer is simple: get an experienced staff member or company to advise you or, better still, identify and keep track of the SEO terms that matter to your business.    

Permit me to ask a really bleeding obvious question: How easy or otherwise is it for someone to find a contact number, email address or another form of support on your website? For the majority of businesses, it should be there from the word go, right on your home page, correct?

In reality, some of the biggest companies are the worst offenders in this respect. Huge internet monoliths like Amazon, Microsoft and others are notoriously poor at providing any obvious route to human support. Why on earth do they bury things like the company phone contact number behind page after page of generic Q&A style guff? For the same reason they use “creative accounting”: it saves them money and staff. For smaller businesses, however, such poor practise could be losing you leads and bookings without you even knowing it!

Apart from the obvious remedy of making contact details obvious and easy to get to, many of the hospitality businesses we work with now use a live chat option. This can be a great way to convert enquiries into bookings, provided you have staff on call at any given moment. 

9. Security issues and certification problems

Security is one of the most commonly overlooked aspects of any business website; until you get a major security scare! Hackers and cyber criminals can give any company a headache, but sadly many organisations only realise the true value of security following a difficult or costly episode.

Keeping your website’s safety features up to date is a must for starters. For example, Wordpress users should always upgrade to the latest versions of their plugins at regular intervals. But a lesser known but valuable step is obtaining an SSL certificate. In a nutshell, this is a way of keeping your customers safe during transactions. Not only a sensible move, but one that will give you preferential ranking with the likes of Google! Thankfully, it is relatively easy to set up. You could always contact us to arrange this.