Small business owners often spend extravagantly on making their website attractive and inviting… as well they should. An investment in web design, coupled with SEO and digital marketing, can turn your business website into a sales magnet, a lead generation machine, and an invaluable online storefront.

But what happens if you spend a lot of time and resources making your website great, only to find that nobody visits it? This is a common conundrum and can feel a bit like you’ve planned an elaborate dinner party only to wind up without any guests.

The good news is that, if you have a decent website but low traffic, there is often a very reasonable explanation, and potentially a strong fix.

Top Reasons for Low Traffic

1) Your content is subpar.

Simply put, if you want people to visit your website, you need to offer them something valuable. That means creating compelling content that speaks substantively to user questions, interests, or pain points. Basically, your content should reflect the kinds of queries your visitors might make in a Google search. If your traffic is lagging, it could be that your content is irrelevant, insufficient, or simply not very engaging.

2) Your design is unappealing.

It’s also possible that you have great content, but an unattractive design. This might take the form of too much text with too little white space, providing an overwhelming visual experience. It might also be a bright color scheme that’s hard on the eye, or a poor navigational structure that makes it challenging for users to access the information they need. There are plenty of forms that a bad design can take, but the point is, your website needs to extend a sense of welcome to visitors, drawing them in and making it easy for them to locate valuable information.

3) Your site loading time is too slow.

Another common problem is that your website has a sluggish performance, taking too long to load. Keep in mind that, if it takes the site longer than three seconds to load, you’ll start to lose visitors, who grow impatient and navigate back to the search engine results page (SERP). Run speed tests on a variety of browser and device types, and if your performance lags, talk with your website design team about some changes you could make.

4) You’ve neglected mobile users.

Something else to remember: Statistically speaking, a majority of your website traffic is likely to come from mobile users. So, if your site is hard to use on a smaller screen, you can expect to see low traffic numbers. Again, we recommend testing your site across a variety of browser and device types, making certain that the site is readable and navigable with minimal effort.

5) Your site has been poorly optimized.

The issue may have less to do with user experience and more to do with SEO. For example, if you’ve not done a thorough job of optimizing your site, you won’t pick up as much traffic from Google search queries. Be sure that you have:

• Done comprehensive keyword research, learning the words and phrases that might draw people to your website.
• Included those keywords wherever you can in your website content, while still maintaining readability.
• Fleshed out your metadata, including a meta title and meta description, to let the search algorithms know what your content is all about.

6) You lack backlinks.

Another oft-overlooked SEO concern is generating backlinks. Simply put, you need some external signifiers, demonstrating to the search algorithms that your site has worth. Setting up a Google Business Profile is a good place to start, and cultivating online reviews also helps. Additionally, we recommend that you seek citations in as many relevant online directories as possible.

7) You’re inactive on social media.

One final reason why your website traffic might be minimal: You’re not as active as you should be on social media. The “set it and forget it” approach to website development never works. You’ve got to be intentional about promoting your site, encouraging people to come check out your content. And social media is one of the most effective ways to do that. Without a strategic approach to social media, your site will likely languish.

Time to Fine-Tune Your Website? Give enCOMPASS a Call.

Keep an eye on your website analytics. If you see a drop off in traffic, or if you simply never hit the numbers you’d like to see, consider some of these potential explanations. And feel free to reach out to enCOMPASS Agency to learn more about corrective measures. We’re always happy to advise our clients about website design, SEO, social media marketing, and more.

Whenever you’re ready to chat with the enCOMPASS Agency team, simply reach out to us directly.