8 Major Marketing Red Flags That Sink Your Website

If you want your website to succeed, one of the most important things you can do is look for those major red flags that will drive visitors away. Advertising on the web is obviously essential here in the 21st Century, but there are plenty of major problems that can make your visitors leave your site in disgust. Here are 8 of them.

#1 Lack of Customer Reviews

Many people take issue with online businesses that do not have a way for consumers to leave reviews on their products or services. You’re sending your money to someone else, so there should be some kind of feedback process that can confirm whether or not they’re using your product in a good way.

There are many companies that have installed reviews on their websites. This can be a great way to generate a following. If you don’t have this, you may be better off looking for a more experienced company to help you get started.

#2 Poor Website Design

Many companies will claim that their site design is only temporary and they will spend money fixing it later. The problem is that most of the problems that come up with a poorly designed website don’t go away. You may even need to have some kind of different website for a while.

This may be a problem when it comes to targeting new customers or even SEO, as Google likes to have at least some consistency in website design on its search engine results pages.

#3 Unreliable Sources

These days, you can find a lot of products online, including many that are trusted sources. If you want to know whether a website is reliable, you should look at its sources. This should include its parent company, industry experts, and so on.

Do they include an address? Does the website have any contact information? You may find it surprising how many unreliable sources exist.

#4 Low Rates

It seems like a good idea to find a website or a company that has a low web design, low prices, and/or good reviews, but that’s not always the case. There’s not always a way to tell what company you are dealing with online. It’s easy to look at low prices and claim that you will be happy to pay more, but how much are you willing to pay?

The first few visits will cost more, after that, you should be able to test the reliability of a website.

#5 Poor Presentation

If you are going to purchase something from a website, you have to be convinced that it’s a good deal. So many companies spend money on a slick presentation, but they often end up leaving their users stuck in a loop. If you are going to spend time on a website, you want to spend it wisely.

As you go through the checkout process, there should be several buttons you can choose from to make your purchase. The page should be user friendly, and a title should be clearly visible on the page to keep your attention. It’s important to remember that you’re not just using the site, but you are buying something from it too.

#6 Irrelevant Ad Display

Many online businesses use advertising networks that place ads for them on websites across the web. Some of these networks are focused on TV shows, while others like PPCs, place ads on the web for you and your business.

You want to find a site that places ads on relevant websites that your target audience is using. Make sure you pay attention to sites like Google and Bing that report on what websites their users are visiting and what ads appear on those sites. The only time to ignore this is when you’re trying to take over the web, but the money is never worth it.

#7 Desktop-Only Ads

It’s no secret that people tend to spend more time online on tablets and smaller mobile devices. That’s why you’ll see ads more often on such sites. Your website needs a more broad range of viewers to generate a good return, and one way to do that is to ensure that your ads and links appear on smaller devices. You could be limiting your ad reach if you don’t do this.

#8 Costly, Complex Web Design

Like many other businesses, you want a small and focused business that’s easy to use. You shouldn’t have to deal with complicated design for your website, especially if you want it to be simple and run smoothly.

Choose a platform that’s reasonably priced and has many users on it, not just a few users who are paying for a higher level of service.

Online businesses usually find a way to handle this, but you can make it simpler by using what’s known as a WordPress.com plan, which is a very simple and inexpensive solution. These are just some of the most common marketing problems that could force people to leave your website without visiting it a second time. If you identify some major red flags that are blocking traffic, you can turn these problems into your business’ most powerful marketing tools.