Remember those TV infomercials from RONCO and their famous line, “Set it and Forget it”? The complete OPPOSITE applies to your website and digital marketing strategies! Once upon a time, in the not so distant past (the 90’s and early 2000’s), you were actually ahead of your competition if you simply had a website. Today, your company doesn’t just need a website…it needs a well-designed, easy-to-navigate engaging website that accomplishes your business goals!
Just as your physical operations, print media marketing, and sales strategies evolve with market changes, your website should respond to the feedback you get from customers and prospects. If you’re only tweaking your site once a year (or every few years), you’re probably not staying as current as you should be.
Updating your website has SEO benefits, too — updated content shows Google that you’re relevant and timely. It’s like reaching out and shaking Google’s hand, saying “Hey, I’m still here, I’m still in business and we are the experts in our given field.”
If it’s been a while since you’ve done anything with your website, here are four signs that it may be time for a website redesign:
#1 – Your site isn’t mobile-friendly
As of 2014, mobile device users outnumber desktop users. That shouldn’t be a news flash, as everywhere you turn you see people with their nose in their phone or iPad. Raise your hand if you are a guilty party, sheepishly this author has her hand up too. Yes, guilty as charged!
Now that we’ve established the prevalence of mobile devices, ask yourself this important question: does your website provide an optimal viewing experience across a wide range of devices – desktops, tablets, and mobile phones? If not, be aware that responsive design accounts for the different screen sizes and adjusts your website for optimal reading and navigation.
In fact, Google thinks it’s so important they’ve made it a requirement for websites and have begun rewarding mobile-friendly sites with higher rankings!
#2 – No Social Media Linkage
Social media is not a fad! With 1.59 billion active monthly users on Facebook, today’s online world revolves around social media. So if you want people talking about your brand, products, or services, you need to provide easy avenues for them to share and promote your content.
A good digital marketing strategy means integrating all of your online content. Your website needs to link to your social media and vice versa. Make it easy for customers and prospects to connect with your social media content by linking to it on your main site.
#3 – Your UX (User Experience) Isn’t User Friendly
Slow, dated, or broken websites lose customers; it’s that simple. According to KISSmetrics, every second counts because 40% of people will abandon a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load… it’s a cruel, cruel world!
Secondly, a slow website will negatively affect your search engine ranking. More about speed.
There are several tools available you can use to check your website speed:
- GTmetrix
- Google’s Test My Site Tool
- Google’s PageSpeed Insights
- Pingdom
Sometimes, however, the first step towards a faster website is a cleaner, more efficient design developed on a platform optimized for speed such as WordPress. A good high-quality hosting provider who can deliver the speed you need is also essential.
Visual appeal matters too! Just as avocado green and harvest yellow colors make appliances look dated, certain colors, graphics, and layouts on your website will make it feel like it’s 10 years old.
Additionally, text-heavy websites that are hard to read will also turn users off — large blocks of text or typefaces that are too small should be fixed as soon as possible.
Finally, check for broken links, as users will get frustrated if your website is a wild goose chase.
#4 – You Aren’t Maximizing Your Website’s Full Potential
Many clients don’t realize that a well designed and developed website can help save them time – allowing customers to fill out forms and information online instead of calling or booking appointments. Even the smallest mom & pop business can benefit from things like online employment applications, advertising specials, and reducing frequent phone calls to answer basic customer questions such as business hours.
Are you’re noticing any of the issues listed in this article, if so, it’s time to shake things up. Redesigning a website is not a small undertaking, there are many factors to consider for your online success. Get our free guide 5 Steps To A Winning Web Design Project to help with your planning.
Still unsure if you need to redesign your website or where to start? Contact us, we’re here to help.
