[social_warfare]
The digital world moves quickly. It is no longer feasible to view your website as a “set it and forget it” part of your online presence.
Click to enlarge
The statistics are clear. Smartphone usage is exploding. More and more people are using mobile devices to search for reviews, product and service information, and other research. No matter what you offer, this is a significant opportunity to better reach your customers.
So all this is well and good, but how does a bad website actually cost you?
1) A Bad Website Turns Away Potential Customers.
First, let’s explore the staggering cost of lost opportunities.
Simply stated, an opportunity cost is the cost of a missed opportunity. It is the opposite of the benefit that would have been gained had an action, not taken, been taken—the missed opportunity. This is a concept used in economics. – Inc.com
Technology is a wonderful thing. Most of us now have the ability to search, review, monitor, purchase, return, learn, and communicate around the world from the palm of our hand. We won’t give a bad website the majority of our time and attention with all of this competition, and neither will your customers.
Key reasons consumers give up on content altogether (from Adobe):
• Images won’t load – 39% stop engaging
• It takes too long to load – 39% stop engaging
• Content is too long – 38% stop engaging
• The content is unattractive in its layout or imagery – 38% stop engaging
A well-designed, useful website is a major piece to helping your company reach its goals. A badly designed, difficult website costs you in lost opportunities.
2) A Bad Website Hurts Your Google Rankings.
Click to enlarge
Google’s priority is to present the most relevant information for every search conducted.
Keywords, heading tags, and optimized photos are important. However, you also
need content that people find valuable and interesting, as well as a design that catches their attention long enough to stick around and continue using your site.
The most used websites on mobile phones are search engines. Is your website ranking highly enough to be part of that? If it is, is your site useful and engaging once they arrive? Low search engine rankings is another risk factor for lost opportunities.
Design, content, and a solid technical foundation all work together to put your site higher in the search engine rankings.
3) A Bad Website Impacts Your Company’s Image.
First impressions matter. A study completed by Sirjana Dahal at the Missouri University of Science and Technology went even further into this claim (link to full study).
Confirmation bias occurs when participants in the presence of very positive first impression may ignore negative issues and errors that they encounter later. In case of negative first impression, participants find it hard to accept the positive aspects. Hence, even if a website is highly usable and provides very useful information presented in a logical arrangement, this may fail to impress a user whose first impression of the site was negative.
People buy from people they trust. If you wouldn’t present yourself unprofessionally in a meeting, why would you accept less than the best representation of your company in the digital world?
Your company’s strategy for growth should include a good website as a priority, not an after-thought. Your website is the foundation and face for your company’s online presence. You must have a stable foundation in order to see results.
