You put in a lot of effort to get your online business off the ground, and then…it doesn’t seem to go anywhere.
Yikes! Where did you go wrong?
Below are four common reasons why you may not be getting the results that you want.
We’ll also share four solutions to help your online biz breakthrough and start seeing success.
PIN THIS POST FOR LATER!
Why Your Online Business Isn’t Successful #1 | You don’t clearly explain your offers
When people navigate to their site, they should know very quickly what you’re all about, what you offer, and who your products or services are for. Write to your target audience and explain what solutions you offer for them.
Related: Did you know our WordPress themes come with a Copy Workbook to make sure you cover all your bases?)
Your brand voice may be fun, witty, or cutesy, but remember to be clear about what your business does. Ditch any jargon or buzzwords that may sound good, but don’t actually explain what services or products you sell.
Why Your Online Business Isn’t Successful #2 | Your SEO needs work
SEO, or search engine optimization, helps boost your rankings in search engine results. Good SEO also creates consistent traffic for your biz, positions your brand as an authoritative leader, and gets your business in front of your target audience.
That all sounds great, right? But you have to be doing SEO well to reap those benefits. Here are some quick tips:
- Build your business’s trustworthiness with a legit About page and bio
- Create relevant, valuable content that benefits your audience
- Use keywords in headers and the first paragraph of your page or blog
- Make sure your website works well across devices (more on that in a moment)
With great SEO, you don’t have to spend as much time worrying about churning out new content. You’ll get higher search rankings, more traffic, and better leads.
Related post: WordPress SEO Basics to Help You Show Up More Online
Why Your Online Business Isn’t Successful #3 | Your website isn’t user-friendly
Now that you know what kind of content you should have on your website and why, let’s talk about how your site looks and performs. All that great content you spent creating isn’t worth a dime if your site is hard to read or navigate.
The internet has changed our reading preferences. No one likes to read long sentences or huge blocks of text online. Keep your copy short and simple. Break it up with lots of white space, graphics, and images. Don’t be afraid to use bullet lists and headers, too.
A general rule of thumb for paragraph length: stick to three to four lines of text, maximum. If your website is easy to skim, it’s easy for your customers to find what they need.
Your site needs to perform well, too. It should load quickly and work well across all devices. Make your major links easy to find on every page. Site navigation isn’t the place to get creative. Stick to what people expect so your business has the best chance of finding success.
Related post: 7 Ways To Improve The User Experience On Your Website
Why Your Online Business Isn’t Successful #4 | Your website doesn’t tell customers what to do next
Let’s say you’ve nailed all of the above reasons, and you’re still not seeing the results of all your hard work. Go back to your website and look at each page and section carefully.
Are you telling site users exactly what to do with calls-to-action (CTAs)? You need CTAs throughout your site to point your customers in the right direction. Otherwise, you may notice a high bounce rate: people who land on your site, check it out for a few minutes, and leave without buying something. Or subscribe to your newsletter. Or following your social media pages.
Add CTAs that make sense for the location; try not to overthink it. On your About page, you can point people to the Contact page so they can reach out to you. On your Services page, you can add a link to Testimonials or What People Are Saying so they can read all your glowing customer reviews.
Don’t leave any room for vagueness or uncertainty. Tell people exactly what you want them to do.
Related post: How to Get People to Take Action on Your Website
Final Thoughts
Of course, there are many other reasons your online business isn’t performing the way that you hoped. And some of those reasons may not have anything to do with your biz. (The global pandemic of 2020, for example.)
Continue to analyze your business and tweak your strategies so you can figure out what to improve. And if your website design is the culprit, give our ChicSplendid WordPress Theme a try!
The ChicSplendid theme is perfect for service-based entrepreneurs who also sell digital products and want to freshen up their site design. Learn more about the ChicSplendid theme now!