Not too long ago, I was talking to a business owner about his website. Before I could even ask what the problem was, he said,
“I think I need a new website. Mine feels old.”
Fair enough.
Websites do get old. So before talking about colours, layouts, or redesigns, we opened the website together. I asked him to use it the same way a customer would.
He picked up his phone. Opened the homepage. Tapped a few buttons. After about five minutes, he looked at me and laughed. “I never noticed any of this.” The contact button was hard to find. One image was taking forever to load. A service page still talked about something they had stopped offering months ago.
None of those problems looked serious on their own. But when you keep finding one small issue after another, the whole website starts feeling a little frustrating.
The funny part? We didn’t redesign the website. We fixed those small things first.
A few weeks later, he called again. “We’re getting more enquiries now.” The website looked almost the same. It just worked better. That happens more often than people think.
People Aren’t Studying Your Website
You’re a little biased when it comes to your own website. We all are.
You’ve looked at it hundreds of times, so everything feels obvious. A visitor is seeing it for the very first time.
They’re not reading every page from top to bottom. They’ll click around a little, look for whatever they came for, and make up their mind pretty quickly. If they can’t work out what your business does or how to get in touch, they’ll probably move on without thinking too much about it.
Not because your business is bad. Because somebody else’s website answered their questions a little faster.
I do exactly the same thing. You probably do too.
Little Things Become Big Things
One slow page isn’t a disaster. One broken button isn’t the end of the world. One old photo doesn’t usually scare customers away.
But when all those little things appear together, people notice. Maybe not consciously. They just get a feeling.
You know that feeling when you walk into a shop and something seems a bit… off? You can’t always explain it. The lights are working. The products are there. Everything looks normal. It just doesn’t feel looked after.
Websites are no different. Sometimes people leave without really knowing why.
Try Using Your Own Website
Not as the owner. As someone who’s never seen it before. Open it on your phone. Don’t think about your business for a minute. Just use the website.
Can you find your services easily? Is your phone number obvious? Does the contact form actually work?
One business owner I spoke to hadn’t filled out his own enquiry form in over a year. When he finally tried it, the emails weren’t going anywhere. He’d been wondering why enquiries had dropped. The form had stopped working months earlier.
Nobody realised it had stopped working.
People were still visiting the website, but they couldn’t send an enquiry. Imagine paying for ads and then finding out the contact form was the real problem all along.
That’s one reason businesses that invest in Google ads management usually spend some time checking their website too. There’s not much point paying for traffic if the website isn’t ready for it.
Mobile Matters More Than People Realise
A lot of website owners still check everything on a laptop. Customers usually don’t. They’re sitting in a car. Standing in a queue. Waiting for a coffee. Lying on the sofa after work. That’s when they open your website.
If the text is tiny or the buttons are difficult to tap, most people won’t struggle through it. They’ll simply leave. It’s not personal. People have become used to websites working properly. If one doesn’t, there’s another one a few seconds away.
Don’t try to say too much
This is something I see all the time. A homepage packed with paragraphs.
- Big words.
- Fancy phrases.
- Lots of promises.
Halfway through reading it, I’m still wondering what the business actually does.
Simple usually works better. If a neighbour asked what your business does, you probably wouldn’t try to sound impressive.
You’d probably say,
“We build websites.”
“We renovate kitchens.”
“We repair air conditioners.”
That’s enough. That’s exactly how your website should feel too. Your website doesn’t need to sound smarter than you. It just needs to make sense.
Fresh Doesn’t Always Mean New
Sometimes people think the answer is starting from scratch.
- New design.
- New colours.
- New logo.
Maybe. Sometimes. But quite often the website only needs a bit of attention. Update a few photos. Replace information that’s out of date. Remove services you no longer offer. Add a few recent projects.
A website doesn’t need something new every week. Just don’t leave it untouched for years. Fresh photos, updated services, or even fixing old information can make more difference than people realise.
Ask Someone Who Knows Nothing About Your Business
This is probably my favourite little test. Send your website to a friend. Don’t explain anything. Just ask one question.
“What do you think we do?”
Then leave them alone. Don’t help. Don’t give clues. Their answer will tell you a lot.
Sometimes they’ll understand everything straight away. Don’t be surprised if they get something wrong. It happens. Sometimes what’s obvious to you isn’t obvious to someone seeing the website for the first time.
You Don’t Have to Fix Everything Today
Before spending money on ads, spend half an hour using your own website. Not as the owner. As a customer.
You’ll probably notice a few things you’ve ignored for ages. Fix those first.
If you need help getting more people to the site after that, Wibits Digital is a PPC agency in Nagercoil that can help with the advertising side.
The rest is really up to the website.