If your website is losing customers, you might not even know it. In fact, you will possibly attribute it to the short attention span of the typical internet user – but is it really?

There are a number of things that could go wrong – here are a few…

1. Design or layout – no, the new flashy design you had done does not guarantee results, despite what your web designer may lead you to believe. Consider the following: is it easy and logical to navigate? Are all the important links found in prominent places? Is the site “cluttered”, containing so many different things that the important ones get lost among all the other elements?

Sometimes, less is more. A very successful internet marketer once said: “Any given website should have only ONE goal – and the whole site should be built around achieving that one goal”. In other words – everything on your website mut be geared towards getting the prospect to do the one thing that you want him or her to do.

NOTE:

Be careful of putting too much on any single page – if it loads too slowly, it will cost you customers. We live in an age of incredible impatience – especially on the internet.

2. The wrong audience – if you are paying for your website visitors, have you made sure that what you pay for is actually what you want? For instance – you use banner advertising, placed on a related. However, how many of the visitors coming there actually fit the profile of your typical customer? Or are they just people browsing on the topic in general?

Additionally, if the visitor came to your website via a referral or a search engine – why did he or she come there? What were the expectations that brought them there?

Think logically – if you are offering a service, it would do you no good to attract people who want to do it themselves for free…

3. What are you offering? No, seriously – consider this: People do not buy products or services – they buy the end result. A woman buying a diet pill actually wants to be more attractive. A guy buying a sports car wants to state his alpha male status. The guy buying a German luxury sedan buys prestige…

Bring your offer in line with what your prospects really want – if you offer reliability, sell peace of mind. If you offer low prices, sell savings. If you offer an inclusive service or product, sell convenience…

The customers have to believe that your small business website is offering what they want – even if what you want to achieve is the other way round. Salesmanship is about offering something to people in such a way that they actually believe they want it.

There are many more reasons why your small business website could be losing customers – but most of them tie in with these basic problems. To fix it, firstly draw up a profile of your typical customer, and then try to decide what the expectations of that prospect (what do they deem important) will be upon arriving at your site. Once you have decided what they (really) want, simply present your offer in a way that makes it seem like what they want.