These Website Mistakes Could Be Costing You Thousands. Here's How to Maximize Your Return and Drive More Sales. You're losing thousands of dollars on your website and might not even know it.
By Ludwig Makhyan Edited by Maria Bailey
Key Takeaways
- How much does a website cost?
- Is your website investment worth it?
- Nobody tells you that web forms can cost you a lot of money
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You're losing thousands of dollars on your website and might not even know it. You have a site and a marketing team, and traffic is flowing in. But your site — and business — may fail because you're losing customers and conversions.
How?
Leads fail to convert because of poor user interface, slow speeds and bad design practices. If your site isn't optimized for SEO, it gets even worse: leads will never land on the site in the first place.
How much does a website cost?
Small websites cost $500 to $5,000. Your costs will vary depending on whether you use a template, hire a developer and the complexity of the site. Sites with hundreds of pages, expert optimization and design can cost $10,000 to $20,000. Your initial investment can't be recuperated if your site isn't optimized properly or set up to convert leads into sales.
Site visitors have higher expectations, and there is a growing list of requirements that sites must meet. You need a snappy site, and it must be accessible. However, you also need to capture the right data from your forms, continually optimize your site and fill in the leaks that are causing you to lose money.
Related: 3 Powerful SEO Techniques That Will Boost Your Website's Search Engine Ranking
Is your website investment worth it?
Small business owners lose customers, even with a well-functioning website, because they don't know how to utilize the data available to them. So, after all, is your website investment worth it, and if yes, how can you make sure you get an ROI?
Nobody tells you that web forms can cost you a lot of money
Forms are boring input fields to failing site owners and a goldmine to successful ones. What are leads doing when they enter data into the form? Are errors causing potential customers or clients to leave the site? According to WP Forms, more than 67% of site visitors will abandon your form forever if they encounter any complications; only 20% will follow up with the company in some way. Analyzing how users interact with forms is especially critical for small businesses, which may not have as many opportunities as larger corporations. They can identify common issues such as broken forms, confusing fields or errors. This insight allows small businesses to simplify and optimize the form-filling process, improving the overall user experience and significantly increasing the chances of conversion. Thankfully, you can use a form tracking system that will help to pinpoint problems with data entry and missed opportunities, ensuring that small businesses are not carelessly losing leads.
Testing your forms and sales funnel regularly can save you a lot of money if you fix issues that are found in the test phase.
Data is the king of website optimization
Analytic data is king of website optimization, but you need to know what to look for and how to make changes. For example, if you have a high bounce rate, your site may look like it was designed in 1999, or it takes 15 seconds to load.
Bounce rate means users are leaving the site on the page of entry, and you have multiple areas of potential improvement.
Review your site speed and follow PageSpeed Insights' recommendations to optimize your site. Try to bring loading time down to two to three seconds at most. Complex navigation and poor-quality landing pages can also cost you sales. Work with a copywriter to optimize your sales funnel copy.
Data will help businesses to pinpoint exactly where users engage most frequently and where they face obstacles. With careful analysis of this data, companies can optimize every aspect of their website, from navigation to content.
Important aspects of a high-converting website
High-converting websites have a lot in common:
Content
Expertly written content, with the help of a copywriter, will allow you to hit on the pain points of leads and close more sales. Hooks and storytelling from an experienced copywriter can help you turn a low-performing sales funnel into one that exceeds sales forecasts.
Design
Poor design practices cause sites to fail. Yahoo! is a prime example. The site was once Google's biggest competitor, but with the bland and outdated design, the bounce rate was high, and people flocked to Google.
Work with a design team to create a functional, feature-rich site that appeals to your target demographic.
Lead capture forms
High-converting sites use lead capture forms to collect basic information about visitors, such as their email or phone number.
In exchange for providing information, leads receive something valuable in return, such as a discount or free eBook.
Once a user provides their email address or phone number, you can start nurturing them and eventually convert them into a customer. It's important to note again that receiving instant notifications about broken forms and issues is a solution to avoid losing potential customers.
Related: 9 SEO Tips to Help You Rank No. 1 on Google in 2024
Call-to-action: More than just a button
Call-to-actions (CTAs) tell visitors what to do next, such as signing up for a newsletter, making a purchase or scheduling a consultation. They play a crucial role in improving your site's conversion rates.
Without them, visitors would leave your site without taking action, resulting in lost opportunities to convert leads.
To increase conversions, CTAs must be clear and concise and use action-oriented language, like "Buy now" or "Contact us." Tell your visitors exactly what to do next so there's no confusion and they feel confident taking the next step.
CTAs are highly effective at improving conversion rates, but visitor behavior can change over time. Testing and optimizing your site's CTAs can help maximize your conversion rate and adapt and change as user behavior changes.
Make sure that you're engaging in A/B testing to determine which CTA works best for your audience.
You must respond to leads right away
Research shows that 78% of customers purchase from the first responder. Surveys also show that the highest-ranking companies in lead response audit reports respond to leads in 30 minutes or less. The quicker you respond, the better. Conversion rates can be as much as eight times higher if you respond in the first five minutes.
Every minute that passes increases the chance that the lead will move on to a competitor.
How can you improve your lead response time? Start by automating your lead qualification process to identify and prioritize high-quality leads. Track the lead from start to finish and pinpoint the issues that leads are facing. Set response time goals, train your reps, and streamline your lead management processes to reach out to leads as quickly as possible.
Conclusion
You spend thousands of dollars on a website. To maximize your return, you must ensure that your site has all the right elements to increase conversion rates. Once you have these elements in place, you must respond to leads immediately to seal the deal.
