Do you have a Franken Site?

A Franken site is a fun little term to describe the worst websites. They're grotesque, don't function correctly, and are scaring everyone away. Much like Dr. Frankenstein, you didn't want to create a monster, but it's happened, and you have to deal with it. 

Ultimately, web design is a crucial element of your marketing strategy. Good web design will ensure your site attracts many visitors and converts. So, how do you know if you have a fantastic or Franken site? Here are a few key things to be aware of: 

Does Your Website Look Nice?

Does your website look visually appealing? Is it a site that you look at and think, "wow, that looks nice"? 

Granted, you could argue that good web design is subjective - some people may prefer other designs to other people. However, as a general rule, your site should at least look clean and modern. It won't appeal to any visitors if it is outdated and the color scheme is off. They'll likely exit your site immediately because of how badly it looks. 

Is Your Website Responsive?

There are two different things to consider here: 

• Does your website respond to all the other actions someone will perform?
• Does your website respond to these actions on other devices?

Tackling the first consideration, your site needs to work whenever someone wants to do something. For instance, a user wants to click on a menu button, so they should be able to. The menu should load up without any problems. If your site is a Franken site, it won't do this. People will spend ages trying to press things or click on different elements of your site without seeing anything happen. It's unresponsive, directing all your traffic away from your website. 

Secondly, you can have a responsive site on desktop browsers, but it runs into all sorts of issues on mobile devices. Thus, you must have a mobile-friendly design that responds to the devices you use. 

How Long Does Your Site Take To Load Each Page?

Page loading speeds are more important than you think. The modern internet user isn't here to stick around. When they click on a website, they want to see everything immediately. Nobody wants to wait for a page to keep loading up, so they'll leave and go elsewhere. You could be in trouble if your site takes more than a couple of seconds to load. 

Therefore, you need to optimize page loading speeds, so everything is fast and fluid. This keeps people on your site for longer, increasing the chances of making conversions. 

Is Your Site SEO-Friendly?

Many factors influence search engine optimization, and the idea is to have a website that ranks highly in search engines. If yours languishes in the depths of the second or third pages, nobody will view it. A Franken site will often be the complete opposite of SEO-friendly. 

So, it would be best if you worked on creating a site optimized for search engines. Much of what we've already spoken about will make your site mobile-friendly, improve page loading speeds, etc. 

Does Your Site Have Good Content?

This is perhaps what lets a lot of websites down. You can generate a lot of web traffic through PPC advertising or other methods, and you could have a responsive site that looks nice and loads very quickly. It may even have a reasonable degree of SEO-friendliness - but does it have good content? 

Content is what keeps people on your site. It should provide information to the user or give them something that encourages them to stick around. A website that's full of terrible content will never perform well. People land on your site and get aggravated when they receive no information about what it is you can offer them. Or, even worse, they click on your site expecting to see specific information, but it isn't there. Good content can improve your site and stop it from being a monstrosity. 

Keeping all of the above in mind, do you have a Franken site? It can be hard to admit that your website is a mess, but the sooner you come to this realization, the sooner you can work on fixing it. Tackle the issues listed above, or feel free to contact us for web design and marketing services. Upgrade your site, and it will supercharge your marketing campaign.