Sales are what run a business, and businesses run the world economy. Making money is the whole reason businesses are started. Whether they start off as a single-location shop or a mom-and-pop online provider of services, they all begin with the intent of earning income. To make that money, companies use a variety of tactics and technologies to bring in more customers and clients.

One such use of technology would be the Internet. By reaching out across the World Wide Web, companies can attract a wider customer base to their business; they are no longer restricted to a specific geographical region. By maintaining a company website, these businesses are bringing in more money than in decades past.

But what happens when the money stops flowing? Sales eventually become stagnant, and the source is discovered to be an issue stemming from Internet sales. What do you when your website is not drawing in clients anymore? There are a number of options you can look at when trying to update your website. The ones discussed below are probably the key aspects to focus on, however; the ones that will show a return on the time you invest in the effort. 

Design

The overall appearance could be speaking to your customers in an unintended way. A sleek, streamlined website that is well-organized free of clutter is the best template to use. If you have too much going on, your content is too close together, or your fonts are over or undersized, then you may be steering clients away from your site. Clean it up, make it simple yet attractive.

Keep your global customer base in mind when redesigning your website. Professional designers understand that color use in a website has to be carefully considered. While the region of the world where the business is based may find a particular color attractive, in other areas may view it differently. White represents death in some Asian countries. Because of this, if your website has too much use of white, it could turn away your Asian customers.

And because you are (assumingly) targeting clients from the Far East, you will want to have your site available in the major languages of the area. Any country you want to extend your services to, you need to ensure they can read what those services are. As widespread as the English language is, not everyone speaks it. Keep that in mind and hire a translator to help with this design aspect. 

Content

The content of your website may not be relevant anymore. Trends change, and quite frequently in the digital age. Your business will have to keep up with those trends. For ecommerce sites, your products could no longer be the latest craze. You will need to update your assortment and advertise them prominently on your home page. You may also have products available that are not being found. Improve their sales by switching them out with the older ones you have been displaying in key positions on your website.

If you are more of a services-based website, you may need to adjust your strategy. If you are offering a service that the need for is dying out, then you will need to add a new service to your site. While the original service will still need to be advertised, you will need to refocus your efforts on this new one in order to stay in business.

If your business is blogging, then you need to make sure you keep fresh content coming. Do not allow your site to go for too long without an update otherwise you will lose readers, and advertising dollars along with them. For many, this has become a primary source of income. Losing their advertising sales could be detrimental to their survival.

Navigation

The layout of your website may be too difficult to maneuver through, and your page tabs may be hard to locate or positioned awkwardly. You may not have considered the page tabs being a significant part of the website design, but if a user cannot find them or use them in the way they are intended, potential customers will go to another site where it is more customer-friendly.

 You want to have as many tabs as necessary to provide a great customer experience. You need to position them in a spot where guests will see it quickly. This is typically up at the top of the screen but does not necessarily have to be. They do need to be labeled clearly. Tabs with cute descriptions rather than a one-word identifier can make it confusing to your visitors. The easier you can make it, the better.

 You also need your website to be mobile friendly. With so much business being done through cell phones and tablets, approximately 50% of all transactions, ecommerce sites can only benefit from a conversion.

 Service websites can make use of this formatting as well . It allows people to not only find your site on the go, but will allow them to make the decision to use your service right then; if you are not mobile friendly and the potential client wanted to use you, unfortunately you just missed out on a job. A tow truck company or mobile car mechanic with a website that does not have the ability to be used on the road can lose a lot of potential business.

If you notice a decline in recent sales, then your website could be to blame. The colors you use or the fonting sizes may be wrong for the demographic you are trying to reach. The content you are hosting on your site may not be as current as you would like to think. Your website may be too difficult to navigate, or it may not be negotiable at all for customers using their mobile devices. Take a close look at your website and see if any of these things are deterring clients from converting their visit into a sale.