You’ve heard “any website is better than none” which can be misleading and isn’t always true for a small business. In reality, bad websites are worse than having no website at all.
While it might seem well-intentioned, encouraging a business to “just get online” could do more harm than good.
A website is a tool for credibility and must be designed credibly.
A poorly designed or poorly functioning website can hurt your credibility and trust, leading to a loss in potential customers and sales.
Bad websites are worse than no website at all
Most business owners decide to just put up a website they made themselves. Adding a website to the sea of millions will bring a sudden rush of customers, right?
Bad websites that lack in design and a strong SEO strategy will never amount to much for any business.
Bad websites do more harm than good.
1. Poor First Impressions Kill Trust
With all the people searching for products and services online, your website could be the first impression of your brand.
If your website looks outdated and unprofessional, people assume your business is the same.
Then there’s that dreaded high bounce rate. That’s when visitors leave your website quickly.
Google pays attention to high bounce rates. A high bounce rate tells Google that website visitors found your content lacks interest or they had a poor user experience. This will hurt how you appear in Google search results – if at all.
You will never know how many potential customers you lost.
2. DIY Builders Can Be Misleading
Be careful when using website builder like Wix, GoDaddy, or Squarespace. They advertise that building a website is easy (e.g. build a website in one night).
However, your DIY website may not bring your business new customers. I don’t know about you, but I want a website that converts visitors into customers!
Common issues with DIY websites include:
- Poor Performance – Slow loading pages, unoptimized images.
- Bad User Experience – Confusing navigation, calls-to-action that are unclear.
- Lacking SEO Fundamentals – Poorly structured content, metadata issues, bad file names.
A nice DIY website that loads slowly and confuses users won’t bring you many new customers.
Without SEO, Google won’t know how to index your content, much less include your business in search results.
3. Inconsistent Branding
Did you create a DIY website with a low-quality copy of your logo, a multitude of crazy fonts, and colors that don’t match your brand colors?
If you said yes, your design and branding is sending mixed signals.
Inconsistent branding will make you look like an amateur business, and comes across as untrustworthy.
Consistent branding helps with your credibility as a business we can trust.
4. Bad Websites + Mobile Unfriendly = Lost Customers
There are lots of DIY websites that don’t render well on mobile devices. Older templates may not be fully mobile-responsive, either.
Responsive design is how your website resizes for all devices. And that’s important since more than 50% of traffic is mobile now.
If your site can’t be viewed on a phone, people bounce.
If you’re still making people pinch and zoom, people bounce.
There’s that pesky high bounce rate again!
5. Broken or Incomplete Sites Damage Credibility
Never ever publish a website that say’s “Coming Soon” – and then leave it there for months!
Bad websites with broken links, empty “About” sections, or missing contact info make your business look neglected – or sketchy.
When is No Website Actually Better?
If you think your only option is to launch a self-made unprofessional-looking site, stop.
It’s better to focus on creating an optimized Google Business Profile, being active on Facebook and Instagram, and creating a professional profile on LinkedIn,
Or hire a professional web designer like Marcie Wolf.
The right website is an asset. The wrong one can cost you business.
Abuzz Creative will build not just any website, but the right one – the right website to grow your business.
