Your site is not getting the results you wanted. Let’s look at the most likely reasons why this is happening.

5. You’re Being Too Trendy.

Every other week some design element is being picked up and spread across the web. It spreads like a virus – parallax scrolling, messenger bots, the “connect the dots” style background element that reacts when you move across it – they’re all neat… and they’re all played out.

Trends fade over time. Good design is timeless. Instead of wasting your resources chasing trends, scale it back to what works. Your visitors care more about their experience than how flashy your site is – they want what they came for – give it to them!

4. You Forgot About Your Customer.

I see it all the time. Whether it’s budget constraints, lack of focus, or an innocent mistake, sites that fail to remember their users during design time are destined to underperform.

Somewhere along the way, you forgot a cardinal rule of business: The Customer Is Always Right.

Depending on how far into your site you are, you may be better off starting from scratch (salvaging only what works to your advantage). Cater to your customer – that’s why your site exists!

3. You’re Poorly Optimized.

There are 3 optimizations you have to have to compete on higher levels. You need to be fast (mobile-optimized), found (search optimized), and fantastic (human optimized).

People don’t like to wait — they leave. If you aren’t visible in search, the only visitors to your site will be the ones that know it exists. If you fail to engage when people arrive, your site isn’t optimized enough to convert (a conversion is pretty much any time someone does something you wanted, like sign up for a service or buy a product).

It’s important to optimize for all 3, because without them, your site will.. well.. suck.

2. Your Offer Isn’t Good Enough.

You can be the absolute best at what you do and still have an offer that isn’t good enough. Your offer is probably fine, but no one knows about it because it’s buried under 300lbs of sales jargon. Place your best offer front and center, and make it good enough to generate interest!

The most clicked call-to-actions are placed very high on the page (typically “above the fold”, or seen immediately upon loading). Make it juicy!

1. You Didn’t Use Professionals

What would you think if someone ran an ad that said “Build Your Own Car — Only $9.99 A Month!”? You would probably think they were crazy, or running some sort of scam.