Ugly, disorganized websites scare prospects more than The Shining scares thirteen year olds. Lead prospects to a poorly organized and unattractive website and you usher them out your business’ door.
Inefficient, unattractive websites simply do not deliver a professional brand persona. They imply a lack of attention to detail, the customer experience and intent to follow through. Your customers’ thoughts when they see this? If you can’t at least make YOUR company look professional online, how could you adequately serve my needs as a customer?
be all that you can be
Most of the website mistakes that companies commonly are easy to spot. Review your website to see if you have:

  • Challenging Content. What content have you put on your website? Does it look like the web version of a novel or take more than five seconds to download? If so, you could have a problem. Your customers are busy and while they may occasionally HAVE the time to wait for your slow webpage to load or read through your paragraphs of information, they won’t bother to because your competitor’s site loads faster and reads easier – and they’re only a mouse click away.
  • Poor navigation. Your prospects want information, not a treasure hunt. Create clear navigation paths for your customers to get to the answers to their questions as efficiently as possible. Mazes and puzzles may be fun in the newspaper, but not when you’re trying to check out a new financial advisor, order a caterer or find car parts.
  • Distracting fonts. Reading a computer or mobile device screen is already more difficult than reading a piece of paper, so keep the fancy fonts to a minimum and opt instead for one that’s clean and reads well. Attic and Boulevard may look adorable, but an entire webpage full of it will cause even youngest prospects’ eyes to strain and fingers to hit the back button.
  • Unattractive colors/design. Paint your dining room red, and you’ll eat faster; paint your bedroom blue to put your mind at ease; color provokes a psychological mood response so make sure your website’s colors and design aren’t psyching out your prospects. Use images thoughtfully, graphic elements constructively and color carefully to create a site that is unique to your brand, but not too trendy for your users to use.
  • Outdated Information. Outdated information is inexcusable. Your website is your opportunity to tell your prospects exactly what you want them to know about you, so at the very least, make sure you’re providing them with information that’s accurate and up to date.

99 problems, but your site can’t be one
People judge you on appearance – then they’ll judge you on what you say. What you do for them comes after that, but only if you’ve already passed the first two tests. Make sure that your company’s website clears the first too hurdles with style and professionalism. If your customer can’t stand to use your website, you’re likely to never reach the third level of interaction where you show customers what you can do for them. Do your company a favor and fix the primary errors on your website and you’ll soon see the results paying in dividends.