Important Website Issues That You Should Know

There are many important issues that can plague a website. The most important ones you should know are slow websites, not being mobile responsive, an SSL certificate, and security plugins. Here is a list of 7 Important issues about websites that you should know.

Slow website loading speed

Slow website speed optimization is a major concern if you care about user experience. Having a website that loads in a short period of time is one of the best things you can do. There are many reasons why a fast site is better but it boils down to the site being more efficient to navigate and a much better user experience. It can also certainly improve conversion rates.

Improving your slow website’s loading speed may include cache plugins, upgraded hosting, or a new theme with fewer plugins. Many of these changes can be relatively quick and painless to perform. Migration may only take a few minutes as with a cache plugin change.

A slow website should be the first change on your list if your site is underperforming.

Not Having A Mobile Responsive Website

There is nothing more frustrating than being on your phone, searching for something online and the website you land on can’t be used on your mobile. Mobile responsive websites should be the norm these days as around half of all searches are performed on mobile phones. 

Having a mobile responsive website usually involves a theme change and maybe a few tweaks to the layout. Depending on your website, it may be a quick change or a lengthy one taking a few weeks. In many cases moving a site to a development or staging environment would ensure all tweaks happen off-site and are pushed live without any interference.

These changes we believe to be a necessity.

Bad Navigation

Having bad navigation can significantly affect the user experience resulting in a high bounce rate. Bad navigation is frustrating.

So you might be wondering what makes website navigation bad. 

• Not being responsive
• Having too many options on the menu
• Having excessive submenus
• Difficult to navigate menus
• Too many drop-down menus

As you can tell by the list above, a properly planned menu will alleviate all of those errors. For example, knowing the menu needs to be responsive and planning out the layout and drop-down menus will have your menu up to standard in no time.

Having Intrusive Pop-ups

Nothing on your website could do more harm to your bounce rate than having intrusive pop-ups. This is frustrating, and causes an increase in people leaving your website. Intrusive pop-ups are especially problematic for mobile viewers. Some websites use a pop-up that blocks all aspects of navigation. In other words, all you can do is sign up, subscribe, or just exit the site. Which one do you think people choose? 

Having pop-ups that aren’t intrusive and constantly harassing the user is key here. Pop-ups help with lead generation, getting sign-ups, and community building but it needs to be done in a subtle manner. This is another easy change a webmaster can make with your website. There is no downtime and can be changed in a few minutes.

No SSL Certificate

Not having an SSL certificate is a very bad idea. It is free from most hosting providers or alternatively, you can add a free SSL certificate through Cloudflare for a 15 year period. SSL certificates ensure your data is encrypted and safe. In many cases, you can’t run an online store if you lack an SSL certificate. The payment processor won’t function.

Add a Cloudflare SSL certificate, purchase one, or have your host add one to your website. Again, this is another quick and easy way to deal with a website-related issue. For the most part, it doesn’t really require any technical skills if you have a good level of computer literacy.

Backups

Not having a backup of your website can be a disaster. Doing frequent backups is key to being able to restore your site in the event of a hack or a crash. Having an offsite backup in the cloud is even better.

Backups can reinstate your website after the crash happens. You may also want to investigate why the crash happened otherwise you may be reinstating a website that consistently crashes. Hacks are another factor that you may need to have a backup for.

Like many of the recommendations here, backing up a website is easy. It also only takes a few minutes to back it up to the cloud. This should be a no-brainer. If you use WordPress, the Updraft plugin would have this covered.

Security

Not having adequate security on your website is no excuse. You get security solutions such as Sucuri, WordFence, or iThemes security. You also get CDN solutions that have a built-in WAF. You can block regions, IP addresses, and such to help increase your website’s security. You also get server-side security solutions.

If you have backups ready, a hack can have you up and running again in no time. All you need is a new server, upload the website, and change the DNS settings. Also, investigate why this happened and fix the root cause. You don’t want this issue to keep recurring.

Conclusion

Well, there you have 7 important website issues that you need to know about. As with most of these, you can handle them yourself. They just require a good basic level of computer literacy. If you are short-pressed on time or lack the know-how to do these things, best contact us today to learn about how we can help you.

Kak Varley also offers a full-service website management service that is available to small businesses.

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FAQ

What are some common causes of website crashes?

These causes can be from a number of errors. They could be from human error, traffic surges, malicious attacks, database issues or third-party plugins.

How can I address website security vulnerabilities?

Updating plugins and themes is a good start. You also want to add a security plugin and have a server-side security solution.

What can I do to improve my website’s performance and speed?

You could cut down on plugins, change your theme, add a cache plugin, and set up server-side cache. A Content Delivery Network or CDN is also a good call.

Why is website maintenance and optimization important?

For optimal performance and function, it is best to maintain your website and ensure everything runs smoothly. Prevention is better than a cure.