Nearly 90 percent of shoppers start their search for products and services online before they ever step foot in a store.

For businesses in the tourism industry, this means that connecting with visitors online means more guests in your hotel, more people on your tours, etc. But before you can connect with them, you need to bring them to your website. If you’ve been struggling with your web traffic, keep reading to learn 5 mistakes you might be making.

1. It Loads Too Slowly

If web visitors don’t immediately find what they are looking for on your website, they’ll leave within just 10 to 20 seconds of their arrival. Sometimes it’s because the website lacks a good heading or home page to indicate what it’s all about. But other times, it’s because the site loads so slowly that your visitors give up long before they ever find out what you’re all about.

There are several issues that can cause slow load times. One is images that are too large or too high of resolution. While they may look stunning, they take entirely too long to load, slowing down your entire page and frustrating your visitors.

Other things that can slow down your website include your plugins of choice, your web host, or even your web visitor’s own internet connection. While there’s nothing you can do about that last problem, fixing the other two and optimizing your load time will go a long way towards boosting visitor numbers on your site.

2. Not Optimizing for Mobile Use

More than 98 percent of internet users worldwide have access to the web from a mobile device. And an increasing number of those internet users are turning to their mobile devices when they want to browse the web, shop online, or catch up with social media.

Despite this, many businesses haven’t optimized their website for use on mobile devices. Some check out their website on a smartphone and, seeing that it does load or can be scrolled, consider it optimized. Others never give it a second thought.

The truth is that your site needs to have a specific, optimized mobile site created. This makes your website still look great, even on a small screen. Using your regular website usually means that your entire website won’t be visible on the screen, buttons and drop down menus might not work, and your text and images may get jumbled.

3. You’re Still Using Pop-Ups

When you think of pop-ups, you likely think about the internet of the early 2000s, where websites would instantly be filled with spam boxes and messages before the first page could ever load.

While most websites have left this terrible tactic behind, many are still using it in a different way. Pop-ups to get your web visitors to sign up for your mailing list can still be damaging. If they pop up long before a visitor can even see your homepage or learn what your business is all about, they’ll likely leave, and they definitely won’t leave you an email address.

4. Making SEO Mistakes

The first three mistakes on this list all assume that visitors are getting to your website to begin with. But it’s also possible that your problem exists at a much earlier stage.

SEO strategies are designed to optimize your website for search engine algorithms. The better your use of these strategies, the higher your site will rank for specific searches and the more web traffic you’ll receive.

While there are plenty of good SEO strategies you should be using, like keywords, links, and that mobile device optimization, there are also plenty of mistakes you may be making without even realizing it.

One mistake is utilizing infinite scrolling. This is where your site continues to load old content as your web visitor scrolls down the page. Not only can this slow your page load time, but it also means that your page isn’t getting properly indexed.

Another SEO mistake is not having enough quality content. Every page of your website should have at least 250 words, and be original copy.

5. Not Making it Easy to Find Answers

It doesn’t matter what your business sells or has to offer its customers. When they land on your website, they are looking for answers or solutions to specific problems. If you aren’t making it quick and easy for them to find them, they’ll simply go elsewhere.

From clearly labeled drop-down menus to including a search box to including important information about your products and services right on your website so that your customers don’t have to call to learn more are all important.

Boosting Your Web Traffic

Boosting your site’s web traffic starts with fixing these common mistakes. From optimizing your site for mobile devices to not sabotaging your SEO strategies to making it tough to find answers, still using pop-ups, or having a site that loads slowly, each of these mistakes can have a big impact on how many visitors are landing on your site.

Need help managing your website and driving traffic? Check out our story to see how we can help.