Most websites that underperform are not badly built. They are built without anyone asking what a first-time visitor actually needs, and the gap only shows up in enquiries that never arrive. Here are the ten problems we see most often, and what each one costs.
1. No clear statement of what you do
A homepage headed “Welcome to Our Website” tells a visitor nothing. Within a few seconds someone should know what you sell, who it is for and roughly what happens next. If your headline could belong to any business on the island, it is not working.
2. A design that has visibly aged
Visitors read design as evidence. A layout that looks a decade old invites the question of whether the business is still trading, still current, still worth calling. That judgement gets made before a single word is read.
3. Navigation that makes people think
Menus built around how the company is organised internally rather than what customers are looking for. Clever names for ordinary things. Fifteen items where five would do. Every moment a visitor spends working out where to click is a moment they might spend leaving instead.
4. Poor quality images
Stretched logos, screenshots used as photographs, pictures that are obviously generic stock. Images carry more of the impression than most owners expect, and a bad one undermines good copy sitting right beside it.
5. Too much text, too little structure
Long unbroken paragraphs explaining the company’s philosophy before saying what it sells. Almost nobody reads a wall of text on a phone. Headings, short paragraphs and lists are not dumbing down; they are how people actually read on screen.
6. It does not work properly on a phone
Most of your visitors are on a phone, frequently on mobile data. Text too small to read, buttons too close together, a menu that will not open, a form that cannot be completed one-handed. If the phone experience is an afterthought, so is most of your traffic.
7. No clear call to action
The visitor is convinced, and then the page simply ends. What should they do? Request a quote, call, send a message, book a visit? Every page should make the next step obvious, and it should be the same step, not four competing ones.
8. Nothing that shows other people trust you
Something on the site should indicate that real customers exist and are satisfied. That does not have to mean testimonials; it can be the range of work shown, the detail of the services, professional association with suppliers, or simply how thoroughly the site answers questions. A site that asserts quality and demonstrates none is asking for faith.
9. It loads slowly
Usually huge uncompressed images, occasionally too many scripts doing very little. On a phone with a weak signal, a slow page is an abandoned page, and the visitor does not come back to tell you.
10. Contact details that take work to find
A phone number buried on a contact page three clicks in, an email address rendered as an image, a form that gives no confirmation once it is sent. If someone wants to reach you, make it effortless from wherever they happen to be on the site.
How to check your own
Open your website on your phone, on mobile data, and pretend you have never seen it. Time how long it takes to answer three questions: what does this business do, can it do the thing I need, and how do I ask. If any of the three takes more than a few seconds, you have found your priority.
Creative Exposure designs and builds websites for Cayman businesses, and can also review the one you already have. If you are weighing up whether it is worth it at all, the case for a professional website is a reasonable place to start. Get in touch and tell us what is not working.