Your website is an essential part of your marketing strategy – it’s often the first impression customers get of your business. It’s the first step to building trust with potential customers and could be the deciding factor in why they choose you over the competition.
If it’s been a while since you’ve taken a good look at your website, it may be time to evaluate whether or not it’s still working for your business. Here are 10 signs it’s time to invest in a new website:
1. Your website isn’t mobile-friendly
With over half of all web traffic coming from mobile devices, you could be losing valuable customers if your website is not mobile-friendly.
A responsive website, meaning a website that adjusts to different screen sizes, ensures that your customers can find the information they’re looking for regardless of what device they’re using. If your website isn’t already easy to navigate from any device, it’s important to upgrade to a mobile-friendly website design.
2. It’s difficult to make small content changes
Do you have to reach out to a developer to make simple content changes to your website, like updating text and images?
Your marketing strategy is constantly growing and evolving, which means the messaging on your website needs to stay current. It’s important that you’re able to update the content on your website when needed.
If you’re not able to make content changes to your website, it’s time to upgrade to a website with a built-in content management system.
3. Your website no longer matches your company’s branding
Has your branding changed, but your website still looks the same as it did ten years ago? If your website no longer reflects your current brand, it’s time for a redesign.
Your website should be an extension of your business. Consistency is key – ensuring that your website’s colors, fonts, and design elements match your overall branding helps maintain brand consistency and increases brand awareness.
4. Your website takes too long to load
If your website pages take too long to load, your potential customers may be taking their business to a competitor.
Your website should load in three seconds or less in order to provide a great user experience to your customers. Head over to Google PageSpeed Insights to test your page load speed on both mobile and desktop!
5. Your website isn’t optimized for search engines
A trendy website design means nothing if your customers aren’t seeing it. It’s important that your website is optimized for search engines using Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
According to BrightEdge, 53.3% of all website traffic originates from a search engine. That means in order for your customers to find you, the content on your website needs to be developed with search engines in mind.
It’s important to have well-crafted page titles, meta descriptions, alternative text, and other aspects of your website. Search engines rely on these to rank your site against the websites of your competitors.
6. Your website is not accessible
Your website needs to be built in a way that is accessible for screen readers and people with disabilities. Accessibility best practices take into consideration the navigation, pictures, videos, written content, and even color scheme of your website to ensure that all users can easily navigate and interact with your website.
Ensure your website is accessible for all site visitors by meeting the most recent website accessibility guidelines.
7. It’s difficult to find information
It’s important that your customers are able to find the information they need on your website. An easy-to-use website is the key to converting website traffic into paying customers.
If your website is confusing to navigate and doesn’t funnel traffic to where you want it, then your business is essentially flushing money down the toilet. Make it easy for your customers to do business with you with a website design focused on user experience.
8. The design and/or technology is outdated
Website design trends and technologies are constantly changing. If your website hasn’t been updated in the last five years, chances are it could use a new look and updated technology.
Outdated technology can introduce serious risks for security attacks. It’s important that your website doesn’t look outdated compared to your competitors. A fresh new site will draw more attention and enhances your image and online credibility.
9. Your website no longer reflects your marketing goals
Your website should always be evolving with your marketing goals. Your website is a huge part of your overall marketing strategy and sales process, so it needs to accurately reflect the vision and goals of your business.
If you’ve made significant changes to your marketing strategy, it may be time for a website redesign.
10. You’re not getting the results you expect
You work hard to get traffic to your website, but what happens when they get there? Your website should be actively converting that traffic into paying customers.
If your website analytics are showing a high bounce rate or percentage of users who leave your site without interacting, it’s worth considering a redesign. You want a website design that is focused on your goals and gets the results your business needs.
At Vervocity, we focus on all ten items outlined above. In fact, we start working on many of them in our first meeting with you. It is important that your agency understands your needs and goals before ever starting on your new website. Contact us. Let’s chat about your current website and how we can create a new website together.