.png)
Is Your Website Giving People a Fright? 5 Signs It’s Time for a Website Makeover
Your website might be scaring potential customers away without you even realising it. Here are five common website horrors and what you can do to fix them.
Halloween is the perfect excuse to talk about something I see quite often. Websites that are giving people a fright, and not necessarily in a good way!
I've worked on plenty of websites over the years, and while every business is different, some problems come up again and again.
Websites that Google can't find. Websites advertising services that haven't existed for years. Websites that have become so complicated that their owners are afraid to touch them.
Sound familiar?
The good news is that you don't always need a completely new website to sort these things out. Sometimes a few thoughtful changes can make a huge difference.
So, if your website was dressing up for Halloween, which of these five characters would it be?
1. The Ghost: Nobody Can Find Your Website
You've spent time and money creating a website, but there's one rather important problem.
Nobody can find it.
Not even Google.
Having a lovely website is all well and good, but if potential customers can't find you when they're searching for your services, you're missing opportunities.
This is where search engine optimisation (SEO) comes in.
And no, you don't necessarily need to spend hundreds of pounds every month on SEO to make improvements.
A few things worth checking:
Does each page have a clear, descriptive title?
Are you using the words and phrases your customers are actually searching for?
Have you included your location where it's relevant?
Do your pages have useful meta descriptions?
Have you connected your website to Google Search Console?
If you're using Wix, there are plenty of built-in SEO tools to help you get the basics right.
SEO isn't an overnight fix, but making sure your website has good foundations is a sensible place to start.
2. The Zombie: Your Website Is Stuck in the Past
Your website is technically alive.
But it's still advertising services you stopped offering in 2020.
Perhaps your prices have changed, you've introduced new services or your business has evolved into something quite different from when you first launched.
Yet your website hasn't quite caught up.
This is incredibly common, especially for small business owners who are busy doing the actual work.
The problem is that your website might be giving potential customers the wrong impression of your business.
Imagine someone finding your website today. Would they understand what you do now? Would they see the quality of your current work? Would they know how to work with you?
Here's a little website exercise:
Open your website and pretend you're a potential customer seeing it for the first time.
Check your homepage, About page and services.
Are they accurate? Are the photos still relevant? Are the testimonials recent? Does the wording reflect the business you've become?
Your website should grow with your business, not stay stuck in the year you launched it.
3. The Vampire: Your Website Is Sucking the Life Out of You
Every little update takes HOURS.
You need to change a photo, add a new service or update some wording, but somehow a five-minute job turns into an entire afternoon.
Or perhaps you have to contact your website developer every time you want to change something.
And pay for the privilege.
I speak to lots of small business owners who feel completely dependent on someone else to manage their own website.
It's one of the reasons I love working with Wix.
Your website should make running your business easier, not harder.
You should be able to make everyday changes without needing technical knowledge or worrying that you're going to break something.
When I build or redesign Wix websites, I always think about how my clients will manage them afterwards.
That means creating clear page structures, keeping things straightforward and showing clients how to make updates themselves.
Because the last thing you need is another job that takes twice as long as it should.
4. Frankenstein's Monster: Your Website Is a Bit of Everything
A bit of this. A bit of that. Five different styles stitched together.
Perhaps you started with a template, added a few new sections, changed the colours, tried a different font and then added another page that looks completely different from everything else.
Before you know it, your website feels like several different websites stuck together.
There's nothing wrong with making changes as your business grows. In fact, you should.
But without a clear structure and consistent design, things can start looking a little messy.
And while design isn't everything, it does affect how people perceive your business.
A few things that can make a big difference:
Use consistent fonts, colours and heading styles throughout.
Make sure your navigation is simple and logical.
Keep buttons and calls to action consistent.
Give your content enough space to breathe.
Check how everything looks on mobile, not just a desktop.
You don't need a complicated design to look professional.
Often, simplifying things makes a website look much better.
5. The Mummy: Your Message Is Buried Under Layers of Text
You've got so much to say about your business that you've put absolutely everything on your homepage.
Your qualifications. Your experience. Your entire process. Every service you've ever offered.
And somewhere underneath all those layers of text is the one thing your visitors really want to know.
Can you help me?
I see this particularly often with service based businesses.
When you're passionate about what you do, it's natural to want to explain everything.
But people visiting your website are usually looking for answers to a few fairly simple questions:
Am I in the right place?
Can this person help me?
What do they offer?
How much does it cost?
What do I do next?
Clarity is far more important than cramming everything onto one page.
You don't need to remove all the useful information. You just need to organise it properly.
Use clear headings, shorter paragraphs and dedicated pages for services that need more explanation.
Make it easy for visitors to find what they're looking for without having to dig through layers of content.
Is It Time to Give Your Website a Makeover?
If you've recognised your website in one or two of these Halloween characters, don't panic.
It doesn't necessarily mean you need to throw everything away and start again.
In fact, one of the things I often tell clients is that their existing website has plenty of potential. It just needs a bit of attention.
A website makeover can help you:
Refresh the design so it better reflects your business today.
Improve your wording so visitors understand what you offer.
Make your pages easier to navigate.
Tidy up your SEO to help search engines understand your website.
Improve the mobile experience.
Make your website easier for you to manage.
And sometimes, if the foundations really aren't working, a full rebuild is the better option.
The important thing is understanding what needs fixing before you spend money on something new.
Ready to Ditch the Costume?
I'm Julia, a Wix website designer and marketing consultant with over 20 years of marketing experience.
I help small business owners create websites that look good, communicate clearly and actually support their business.
Whether your Wix website needs a few improvements or a more substantial makeover, I'd love to help.
Because your website should be working for your business, not giving you nightmares!
Julia 🌴
