10,500. That’s the number of websites that are created every single hour. As a business owner or an entrepreneur, a website is your best friend, as it unlocks an entire dimension of access for potential customers. However, while they can certainly make life easier, people don’t really understand just how dangerous a poorly managed one can be.
In this article, we will highlight three oversights that you never want to make with your business website. The consequences can be far more severe than you imagine. Think we’re bluffing? Read on to learn more.
1. ADA Compliance Laws Can Prove to be an Unpleasant Surprise
If you just started a website, the last thing that’s on your mind is making it accessible to users with disabilities. It sounds harsh, but many new entrepreneurs overlook this because they figure people with special needs aren’t going to be landing on their website in the first place.
However, website ADA compliance laws are no joke, and if someone with a disability isn’t able to use your website effectively, you can be held liable. That’s what craft store ‘Lisa-Marie’s Made in Maine’ experienced. For this small business, fighting the case in court was expensive, and a settlement of $9,000 was reached.
$9,000 might not seem like a lot for larger operations, but for a business trying to find its feet, that can be the end. As Arclight Digital highlights, if you are concerned about such potentialities, seriously consider evaluating your website and making it ADA-compliant as soon as possible.
It’s also worth noting that many of these lawsuits are also filed by people looking to make a quick buck off small businesses. As of now, the laws still favor such people filing hundreds of lawsuits to see what sticks. It’s frustrating, but it’s better to invest in getting your website ADA-compliant and not have to worry about this in the future.
2. Failing to Keep Content Updated
Too often, businesses build a website only to abandon it after a year or two. You must have stumbled upon such places before. You are looking for information on their products or services, but the last time anything changed was in 2016. It’s incredibly frustrating to potential customers who hope to do business with you.
According to British analytics firm YouGov, 94% of people don’t trust outdated websites, and you can’t blame them. We also know that half of internet users form opinions about a business based on factors like design.
It’s clear that an outdated website with design mistakes has a ripple effect on a consumer. It creates a terrible impression about your brand and builds up the idea that that’s the kind of service everywhere else. Moreover, an abandoned website also hurts your business because it starts to get deranked by search engines. This means a drop in visitors to your website, which leads to a loss of potential customers.
There’s really no reason to abandon your website these days. If money is short, you can outsource the job or simply use AI to maintain or create a blog section. However, the one area you definitely want to prioritize is product and service listings. If there are any changes, be they prices, new items, etc. you want to ensure your website reflects them.
3. Broken or Clunky Payment Gateways
If you run any sort of business, an obvious factor to keep in mind is a smooth experience during checkout. It takes a lot of marketing and effort to get customers to visit your website. Getting these customers to order something is another task in and of itself. If there are hitches and glitches along the way, you risk having people go to a competitor.
Credit cards almost always work, but sometimes, business owners fall prey to marketing themselves. They get tempted by advertisements for a third-party payment processor that promises to make transactions easier to track or manage. While some services live up to what they promise, you can’t say that for everything.
Poor encryption, storing sensitive CVVSs, or using outdated APIs are just a few ways that third-party services can let you down. For the customer, issues with payment processors can include anything from transaction failures, double charges, or simply not enough payment methods. This is why 62% of customers who have a transaction failure will simply never return to the website again.
Long story short, websites are the bread and butter of any modern business. If you know how to take care of one, you’ll find the ROI from it to far surpass your wildest dreams. Some businesses don’t even have to worry about local popularity because their websites do so much of the heavy lifting.
Thus, play it smart and learn how to deal with easily avoidable oversights and website management issues!
