Today, owning a website is no longer a negotiable part of running a business—your website is one of the most important tools of your marketing arsenal.
But sometimes we fall into the trap of treating it like a one-off.
You get the website done the first time, and then you never think of updating it. You forget the design of your website is subject to the wear and tear of time, making it important to keep in touch with the trends of your industry and the needs of your customers.
And then you wonder why 5 years down the road, you are no longer on anybody’s RSS feed.
If you’re wondering whether or not your website needs a bit of a touch up in order to catch up with the times, here are a few tell-tale signs to look out for:
1. Your Website Is Hard to Update
Your website is a marketing tool, and as such, it should change almost as much as your marketing goals change. This means new content on a regular basis, as well as a clean, crisp, fresh-looking design. You don’t want to leave your website stagnant and looking neglected.
If your business already stays in touch with a web developer, regularly updating your website should be a piece of cake. If not, you may want to switch your website over to the many drag-and-drop content management systems that are easy to edit, requiring little-to-no coding experience.
2. Customers Are Getting a Poor User Experience on Your Website
If your website feels clunky, hard to use, difficult to navigate, or even just plain unattractive to look at, then you definitely need to update and let some fresh air in.
Your website is often the first thing about your business which most people (read: potential customers) are going to see. Consider it your store front. Does that reality inspire confidence when you think about your website?
Questions you should be asking yourself are:
- How many pages would a visitor have to go through in order to find something they are looking for?
- Is your navigation bar intuitive and uncrowded?
- Is your text format made of large chunks of text or is it easy to read and skim through?
3. Your Website Doesn’t Look Good On Every Screen
Is your website responsive? By that, we mean that does it look good on any screen it is viewed on whether desktop, mobile, or tablet?
We live in a mobile first world where more people are likely to visit your website on a mobile device than on a desktop. You want to make sure that your website is looking its best when they arrive instead of driving them away forever.
You can quickly assess by answering a few questions like:
- Does your website look good on mobile devices?
- Does your content flow outward and adjust when your flip the view horizontally or vertically?
- Does your navigation bar readjust when your website is viewed on a phone?
- Are your fonts easy to read when viewed on mobile?
- Does your site look differently on safari than it does on, say, Google Chrome?
4. It’s Been More than a Few Years Since You Updated Your Website
Sometimes, you don’t even need to look under the hood to suspect your vehicle needs a tune up. If you can’t remember the last time you rolled up into a garage, then it’s probably time.
The same can be said about your website. If you struggle to remember the last time it was updated, because it’s been so long, then you need to update it.
5. Your Website Takes too Long to Load
On average, 53% of mobile visitors will bounce off your site onto that of a competitor if your site takes too long to load.
If you find that this is the case for you, there are things you can do to update your site speed. For example, you can compress your media to make sure your website takes less time to load.
Or you can just get a trusted web designer to do the job for you. Sometimes, there are many other hidden factors that may be at the root of your slow site speed. Plus, you could take advantage of the chance to address other issues we encounter on this list.
6. Poor Analytics
Analytics allow you to zero in on a few key stats at a glance. If you realize that your:
- Bounce rate is too high
- Average session is low
- Website has too few goal conversions
Then you need to revisit your web design and make a few needed changes.
Conclusion
Take a holistic approach when looking at your website. Not all of the above boxes have to be ticked before you hop on a call with your web developer. And more likely than not, one issue may be an indicator of a few others.
So you want to take a bird’s eye view of things, and make decisions from that standpoint.
Don’t worry if you find these changes a little hard to address. You can always reach out to the experts for help. We at Eternity would love to hear from you and see how we could be of service to your business by making sure your website gives you the best ROI.
