Introduction
Page User Web Solutions is a recent venture. I built this website, and I set out to find customers, which is no easy task. While I worked on continuously improving this website, focussing on content, SEO, clear messaging, and more, I also started a cold email campaign.
In my research, I found a suprising number of businesses whose websites are working against them, driving customers away.
Outreach
I didn't really want to to rely any sort of cold outreach, but as a budding business, I had to do something to reach potential customers. I chose to make my emails personal. Instead of collecting a long list of business emails and sending out indentical messages to everyone, with some details automatically filled in like the business name, I decided to look at local businesses, do a mini review of their website, and send a personalised offer highlighting the issues I found and how I could help.
What I found was a very large number of outdated (sometimes very outdated) websites. These were businesses that were very much active, often had wonderful reviews on Google, Yell, or TrustPilot, but they had let their websites fall by the wayside.
First Impressions
Landing on a website that looks as though it hasn't been updated since the early 2000s makes for a bad first impression. It's also a hard impression to overcome, and chances are, if the website is that old, there are many other issues present too.
In the span of a few days, in my search for customers, I saw websites that weren't responsive, where menus and other content just disappeared on certain screen sizes. I saw websites that were sometimes unbearably slow. I saw websites that displayed Google Maps with error messages. I saw websites with broken mobile menus. I saw websites with typos in critical business contact details. The list goes on.
In general, customers come to a business website for the following:
- For an e-commerce site, to see products and product reviews
- For client services, to see testimonials and examples of past work
- Lastly, to get a better sense of the people running the business
When they're instead presented with a website that's obviously been neglected, when they have trouble finding the content they're looking for, or if it simply takes too long to load, they're most likely going to, as we call it in the web industry, "bounce".
Lost Customers
To "bounce" simply means to leave after viewing one page. Google Analytics, and other analytics tools, will measure a website's "bounce rate". This is the percentage of users that have left the website after viewing only one page. A high bounce rate is the last thing a business wants.
The website experience should be frictionless. A website should be visually appealing. It should be fast, and easy to navigate. It should function on any screen size. It should be accessible to those with disabilities. And if it's missing even one of these things? It will lead to lost customers, customers the business might not even realise it's losing.
Search Engines
There are two types of visitors to a website. People, like you or me, and crawlers, otherwise known as robots, or bots. Search engines like Google, Bing, and others, use crawlers to browse the web to index content. This content is analysed, and used to provide search engine results for various search queries.
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a long and complicated topic, but there are some basic key points to consider. Mobile devices, like phones or tablets, account for approximately 60% of web traffic. If a website doesn't work well on mobile devices, the website will rank lower (if at all) in search results, and it will see reduced traffic from potential customers.
If a website is slow to load, if it's not accessible, if it's poorly structured, if there are broken links or images, if it's been neglected and the content is out of date, the website will rank lower (if at all) in search results, and it will see reduced traffic from potential customers.
Conclusion
The hidden cost of an outdated website can add up quickly, and it's a cost in lost business a lot of businesses don't realise they're paying.
The best solution? Invest in a new website. A website rebuild can feel daunting at first, but if you partner with someone who is passionate about the web, someone who can nail all the metrics, and satisfy real and robot visitors alike, you'll recoup your investment in no time.
Our Offer
Do you have an outdated website? We'd be more than happy to help you modernise. After all, your website should impress as much as your work!
Get in touch with us for a free consultation. No obligation, just advice!
