There are more than 10 million websites active on the web, but unfortunately many of them offer a barely satisfactory user experience, or even that. Even some sites that look good at first glance could do much better. We’ve looked at the most common reasons why a website fails, and we’ve made suggestions on how to fix the problems we’ve highlighted.

An outdated website

Many website owners still follow the saying “if it ain’t broke, it don’t need fixing“. This is true in many situations in life, but certainly not when it comes to websites. If you want to ensure a good user experience, whether it is a business website or a blog, then you need to make sure that your website is always up to date and maintained.

You don’t have to invest resources every year in a redesigned site that keeps up with the latest trends. It is enough to follow the main user experience guidelines:

• Mobile adaptability,
• clear navigation,
• logical layout of elements,
• choice of appropriate fonts.

It’s also important to use the latest elements on your site, for example by using HTML5 instead of Flash.

Slow site performance

Outdated elements will also make the website load significantly slower than if it were up-to-date. You may not think speed is important, but most web users don’t. Did you know that 25% of visitors leave a page that takes 4 seconds to load, and 40% of visitors leave a website that takes more than 10 seconds to load? With every second that passes, the exit rate increases by another 10%. You can check how fast your website is loading with GTmetrix. If your page doesn’t load faster than four seconds, then you need to make a radical change.

In addition to fixing the errors we mentioned above, you also need proper web hosting. Choose fast and reliable SSD hosting for optimal website performance. This is one of the key elements needed for a successful website, and at NEOSERV.si we offer just such hosting.

This site is not mobile friendly

There is another major drawback with outdated pages that deserves its own chapter – (lack of) mobile-friendliness. Why is this so important? According to research, more than half of all web users visit websites on mobile devices, and this number is growing every day. In 2013, the number of mobile users already surpassed the number of people using the web on desktop computers.

Let us mention here that every website is visible on mobile devices, but if it is not properly adapted, users see a page that is distorted, fonts that may be too large or too small for normal reading, features that are limited or overlapping, and the list of errors does not end there. Given the large list of potential problems with displaying an outdated page on a mobile device, there is a good chance that all mobile users will quickly abandon such a website.

In this case, there is only one solution. Optimise your site to be mobile-friendly. If the process of redesigning your existing site is too complex, set up a separate page to redirect mobile users to.

If you are in the process of building a new website, then build it with a tool that allows for responsive design. This will automatically change the layout of your page when it is displayed on mobile devices.

The purpose of the page is not clear

Have you ever searched for certain content online and when you visited the website you wanted, you didn’t understand what it was about? Maybe it was the overuse of technical terms or jargon, maybe it was poor grammar, or maybe it was the presentation of different topics that had no connection to each other. Or worse, you visited a page to find some specific content, but there was nothing on the page related to what you were looking for. You are not the only one who has found yourself in this predicament. As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, there are many low-quality sites on the web, some of which have unclear or unrelated content. And you’re likely to close such a page quickly yourself.

Take a step back and imagine that you don’t know anything about the product or blog you are presenting online. What would lead you to your page while you were browsing the web? What solution does your site offer to web users? Is the information of sufficient quality and will visitors benefit from visiting your site?

We should mention here that blogging is a good added value, if it is not already the main element of your online presence. In addition to products, online users also need answers to their questions, which you can offer in the form of blog posts. If you offer products, you need to explain their use and benefits in a way that is understandable to most of your target web visitors. Writing a blog is a great way of presenting this information.

Conclusion

If you address the above reasons why your website is failing, we believe your website will serve its purpose. If solving these problems is too much trouble, hire an expert. For those of you who are about to take the plunge and start writing a blog, you may find this post helpful How to create a visible and well-trafficked blog? If you have any questions about web hosting, you can contact our technical support. We will be happy to help you choose the right hosting package for your site.