At InSynch we see hundreds of websites each week, from large e-commerce websites to small hobby sites. We know that maintaining a website isn’t always quick and easy but there are some small mistakes that you may be making that would go a long way to making a difference for your business.
Here are 8 of the most common mistakes that we see.. How many apply to your website?
- Too many plugins can cause speed issues. Most website content management systems allow for plugins and add-ons to be installed on the website and usually add extra functionality or features. When you no longer use these plugins make sure that you remove them from your website and don’t just leave them installed taking up precious resources., this is one of the biggest issues we see on slow websites. For a list of genuinely helpful plugins read our blog here.
- Not using a ReCaptcha on your contact form. You will have seen the little tick boxes asking if you are “not a robot” or perhaps you have been asked to select all the pictures of a bus or tree out of a selection of 9 images. This is a ReCaptcha and it’s a small test that only a human should be able to solve when submitting a contact form. Without one of these on your website, you may be allowing lots of spam to be sent through your contact form.
- Phone number and Email addresses not linked. Linking these key contact details on your website means that users who are using a mobile phone can simply click the phone number and immediately call you. Similarly clicking your email address will load the user’s mail application and begin sending you an email. This removes the friction in submitting you an enquiry.
- Unoptimised images added to the website causing the website to load slowly. Having great images is important but just uploading them to the website is not enough. Images need to be compressed to reduce the size of each image file, quality is largely unaffected so your images load quickly and still look great. Use a plugin such as ReSmush.it to reduce the file size.
- Social Networking icons not linked. Adding a Facebook, Twitter or Instagram logo to your website is a great idea, but it’s common to click these icons and they are either not linked or don’t actually link you to the correct place.
- No Google Map added to the location/contact page. Now your potential customer has visited your website you may want them to visit your premises. Add a google map to your contact page and they will be able to see exactly where you are and can get directions immediately.
- External Links should open in a new tab. When you are linking off to other websites setting the page to open in a new tab means that the user will still have your website open in their browser rather than the new website replacing yours.
- Not using a Favicon makes your tab harder to find. You’ll be familiar with the little logo displayed in your browser’s tabs, they are called favicons and need to be uploaded manually as by default there will not be a favicon for your website. This makes it harder for users to find your website again when they navigate to other tabs.
If you suspect you may need some assistance spotting these errors and looking at how to fix them we offer a Digital Marketing Critique that can highlight areas to improve and offer suggestions on how to make those changes. Alternatively, you can book a free 1-2-1 consultancy session with a member of our Digital Marketing team.
