Four Signs That You May Need A New Website
filed under: Website Design, Website Optimization
Let's face it. Having an outdated website isn't great for business.
Here are four signs that you may need to make some improvements to your website:
1. Your site design is old / doesn't communicate who you are
Your website is the face of your brand. If your site has an out-of-date design people are going to notice and will likely go elsewhere to find what they need. And even if the site design is current, but the look and feel doesn’t match who you are as a business, it will still give people the wrong impression of who you are and may make you look less professional than you are.
Generally speaking, if your website is more than a few years old, there’s a good chance that your site design is outdated or that it will be soon (things change fast in the web world). For business owners that DIY their sites initially, it’s also common for them to outgrow the look and feel of their website and as the business starts to grow, the website no longer does a good job of communicating who they are.
How to fix this
If any of this rings true for you, you'll likely benefit from either: 1) a design refresh (ie, refreshing some elements of the site while keeping the overall structure as is) or 2) a full-blown website redesign.
2. Your website doesn’t work well on mobile devices
Having a website that works well on mobile is essential these days.
You’ve probably seen the stats about how many web searches come from mobile devices these days (it’s more than 50%) and/or you know this based on personal experience (you’re doing all of your searches on mobile). If you want people to find you online (btw, search engines care about mobile responsiveness too... it’s a ranking factor for SEO) and to stick around once they’ve found you, having a site that works well on mobile devices is essential. It sounds like a no-brainer, but there are a surprising number of websites that don’t have this box checked yet.
How to fix this
Make sure your site is built using responsive design techniques so that it will work well across device types.
You can’t make content updates yourself or it’s overly complicated to do so
Relying on a website developer to make even small content changes on your site can take a lot of time and be costly. And in this day and age, it doesn’t really make sense. Still, this is a pain point that we hear frequently from new web design clients.
We’re not talking about upgrading software or building out a new section of your site (you may very well need a developer for those things), but for things like swapping out photos or adding text content, you really should be able to do those easily by yourself.
How to fix this
Consider building a new website so you can make future content updates on your own.
People keep talking about SEO, you think your site needs it, but you’re not sure exactly what that means or how to go about it
We can probably all agree that showing up in search results for your target website users is important. But what does that mean and how do you do it?
An important thing to keep in mind is that the building blocks of a high-performing website (think pages that load quickly, site content that’s relevant to your website users and a site structure that's easy and intuitive to use) are also important for SEO. If those building blocks aren't already in place, you should probably build a new site.
If they are in place, you might be able to focus on an SEO audit instead. An audit will help you identify other SEO items that should be addressed on your existing site (for example, identifying high-performing keywords and SEO-friendly improvements that can be made to your current website content).
How to fix this
We've got a great blog post on SEO basics if you want to read more. And if you're ready to get started with an SEO audit or a website redesign, contact us to talk about next steps.
Can you relate to any of the things mentioned above?
If so, it’s important to take action before it impacts your success. The good news? We can help! We specialize in designing and building websites for busineses just like yours.
Contact Emily to get started.