Almost all businesses operating in New Zealand now have a website but being able to run it properly and maintain it doesn’t come without its challenges, especially if you are not trained to do so and spend the majority of your time running your actual business. There are many issues that can crop up from time to time, from technical setbacks to user experience concerns, all of which need to be addressed to maintain customer satisfaction and a professional online presence. Let’s have a look at some of the most common problems.

Loading Speed

A major frustration for website visitors, including myself is slow loading times. In 2025 websites should load fast and smoothly, which is now expected by the general population. Sluggish websites will lead to lost customers and missed opportunities for you and your business. There are many things that can lead to slow load times, including, large images, lack of caching or poorly written code. To avoid this, regular performance checks should be carried out along with optimisation where necessary.

Mobile Responsiveness

If you were to check your Google Analytics right now, you would probably see that the majority (certainly over 50%) of your traffic comes from mobile devices. Despite this, there are so many websites that are solely built to look good on a desktop, with mobile devices often being a second thought. The figures do differ across industries, but when the larger portion of your traffic comes from mobile devices, optimising your website to look good and function well on a mobile device should be a priority. This issue is particularly pressing in New Zealand where older websites are simply not catering to younger more tech savvy audiences who prefer using mobile.

Broken Links & 404’s

If you have broken links on popular pages on your website it can really sour the user experience for customers, but it’s not only the users that’ll suffer, as broken links can also negatively affect your search engine rankings. You’ll often find these issues are cause by outdated or incorrect links which can easily be avoided with regular crawls of your website to check for and fix these common issues.

Website Security

There is growing concern amongst businesses in New Zealand about their website security, especially if they are storing data that could be considered sensitive. Hackers and malware can compromise this data, effecting the business and customer which could lead to reputation problems as well as financial risks. Common causes that lead to security breaches include outdated software, weak passwords, and inadequately protected user input forms.

Updating Content

If you’re not well versed with basic website management skills, then updating pages and content on your website can be a bit of a challenge and quite time consuming. There is also the risk of making a mistake and causing bigger problems on your site. This is especially true if your website is older and using an older content management system, or even no content management system at all, which can make things like updating prices or your address and phone number even more of a challenge.

Search Visibility Problems

Being easy to find on Google is vital for businesses to attract local customers, but low visibility can be a persistent issue. Poor site structure, duplicate content, and missing meta tags are some of the factors that hold websites back. A focus on both on-page and technical SEO can help address these problems.

Plugin and Software Conflicts

If you have a WordPress website, plugins and third-party tools simplify many processes, however, conflicts between outdated or incompatible plugins can cause site errors or crashes. What should be as simple as a click of a button can quickly turn into a bit of a nightmare if you don’t know what you’re doing. Careful selection and regular updates of these tools can reduce these disruptions, maintaining a smoother user experience.