28 Jun 5 Reasons Nobody Likes Your Website (and How to Fix Them!)

Wondering why web visitors arrive at your website – and then leave right away? A bad website devastates your reputation and sends perceived value plummeting. Read on to learn five reasons why frustration with your website is sky-high! Plus, we’ll divulge some simple tips to make those frustration points disappear.

1.   Your Website – Especially your Landing Page – is Full of Meaningless Chatter

Your website is a foundation for your business. A great website handily conveys a company’s features and benefits quickly, briefly, and engagingly. Do just that.

A landing page is not the place to write a 500-word autobiography. Tell your business’s story in a handful of sentences instead.

Remember, you want to share your brand’s vision and essence in a way that adds value and enhances your reputation. Drowning potential customers in text causes irreversible harm.

Comb through your website and try to parse out the main idea of each paragraph or block of text. Flesh those main ideas out until they become a few active sentences that really capture your brand’s vibe.

2.   Your Landing Page Lacks a Tagline or “Raison d’Être”

Does your website immediately explain to visitors exactly what it is that your business does? Those first few words your website showcases are a first impression that can’t be undone or reset. You need to nail it!

Sell lip balm? Then say it! Translate commercials? Spill it out!

In just a sentence, you need to illuminate potential customers, demonstrate your value, and set yourself apart from the competition.

Here’s an example:

Overly-verbose, nebulous introduction:        

At the Big Green Juice Machine, we sell healthy juices and salads that are good for you and good for the planet. Because we are a mobile operation with several trucks, we can serve multiple locations daily. That means that everyone in the New York area has a chance to try our healthy options. Check out where we are today and have a healthy lunch!

On-the-nose, succinct tagline:

Finally, a clean and green lunch that’s as on-the-go as you are.

See how the latter introduction captures the essence of the first, but in 50 fewer words? That’s the goal.

3.   When It’s Time to Show Off Your Knowledge, You’re Suddenly Silent

We see this all the time with poor-performing websites. Business owners will fill their landing page with text, so excited to share every aspect of their business with potential customers. Then, when it comes time to detail their products and services, they’ve run out of words.

Your website should feature – for SEO and sales purposes alike – individual services or product pages. When you write them, continue to use active, succinct language – but don’t be afraid to communicate. You never know how potential customers will arrive at your site, so mix up your terminology.

Another great tip: Write FAQ sections for each service or product. If you’re selling a hand cream, then you should absolutely include an FAQ on skin dryness on that product page. That way, when someone Googles “why are my hands so raw in winter?”, the King of Search Engines knows to send traffic your way. Then, you’ll impress them with your knowledge and sleek website, and make a sale.

4.   You’re Only Using Words to Communicate

Listen, we’re writers. We love words! But we know that inundating our web visitors with too much text only hurts us and our clients.

Wondering how to give your readers’ tired eyes a break?

Try using a family of related images, simple graphics, and strategic empty space to create a more well-rounded user experience. When it comes to text, experiment with font size. Make your boldest – and briefest – points big!

Stock photos are relatively inexpensive and can really round out a great website. Some stock photo agencies even offer a limited selection of stock photos at no cost to registered users. WordPress and Square Space, along with other website template providers, allow users to easily integrate graphics and icons into their websites’ layouts.

Even if you are designing your website independently, you may want to ask a web designer to put some awe-inspiring finishing touches on your website.

5.   Your Visitors Have Nothing to Do

You want a website that engages and hooks its audience, right? Well, give that audience something to do – besides read!

Create a click-through photo gallery that shows off all this season’s hand-made baby blankets and loveys. Add interactive, linked icons that wiggle or blink when users hover over them. Allow visitors to take a tour of your state-of-the-art fertility clinic.

Just make sure that on every page, there’s something to do besides stare at text.

Don’t be Afraid to Ask for Help

If writing isn’t your thing, that’s okay. A professional copywriter can help you turn your text-soaked website into a lead-generating juggernaut.