Consider this: There are about 700 million websites. But to most of us, only a tiny fraction of those sites exist because we jump from bookmark to bookmark, scanning our favorite homepages and refreshing our feeds.

People are loyal to websites that draw them in because, simply put, the majority of those 700 millions sites are just plain bad. Of millions of websites analyzed by Marketing Grader, a whopping 72% received a grade of 59 out of 100 or below, which essentially means 72% of websites are failing to attract new visitors and convert leads.

Marketers everywhere are asking, "Why do so many websites fall short?"

Although websites were introduced over 20 years ago, the vast majority still function on old-school paradigms established in the 1990s. Most websites today act as digital brochures or a brand silo, offering little substance. Even if a website has a good balance of design and utility, few companies are building websites that serve their primary purpose: to attract visitors, convert leads, and delight customers with rich, relevant, and valuable content.

A website should be a company's salesperson, and it should be the core of a firm's marketing machinery and thought-leadership strategy.
 
I see a lot of companies getting hung up on one aspect of their website that needs fixing, such as better SEO or a sleeker design—one of those old-school paradigms. Today's buyer is looking for a website that delivers a personalized, integrated experience every step of the way.

Here's where most websites are getting it wrong and how you can get it right with your own site.

1. Most websites act like an online brochure instead of a thought-leadership resource

You've spent all this time and money building a beautiful website, optimizing for search and testing the PPC waters. But your bounce rate is high, you conversion rate is low, and your traffic and leads are flat or dropping over time. What gives?

Even with a sound SEO strategy and user-friendly design, a website is an engine that runs on remarkable content being pumped into it day after day.

As I noted earlier, the goal of a website is to attract visitors, convert leads, and delight customers. Your business won't see those benefits unless you turn your website into an inbound marketing machine that presents your brand as a thought-leader with fresh offers, landing pages, calls-to-action, new media, social conversation, and other content assets. By creating such content, you grow traffic and leads organically, without having to rely on paid campaigns.

Take Desk.com as an example. The company had a beautiful website with a lot of great product info, but its sales reps were starving for more leads. After attending an inbound training bootcamp at HubSpot, they quickly changed course. They developed a resource library full of useful, educational, and valuable content in the form of whitepapers, webinars, and blog posts. All of those efforts significantly contributed to growing the number of new leads for the business.

In the end, you want to own the Web, not rent it. A website that harnesses inbound marketing attracts customers to your business and turns a static site into something visitors actually want to "consume" and interact with.

2. Most websites are one-size fits all instead of dynamic

Back in the day, websites were created with a "set it and forget it" mentality. Like advertising, corporate sites were a vehicle for broadcast, not conversation. But in this attention-scarce economy, buyers expect to receive relevant information that's tailored to their specific wants and needs.