Tell Tale Signs Your Website Needs a Redesign
One of those foundational principles of modern business is that your website should be one of your strongest marketing tools. Think of it as your digital storefront; a storefront that has now become as important as your physical one. And if you don’t have a physical storefront, then your digital presence really needs to be on the ball. But when do you decide it’s time to review your website design and structure?
Here are 10 prompts that it’s time to review your website design.
You have poor organic presence in search engines
If your website is not ranking well on Google or other search engines, then it could mean search engines are having a hard time navigating your website and therefore indexing it.
Search engine algorithms change and evolve and a dated website could be breaking new rules and hurting your SEO. Also, Google looks for websites with current information. One of the best ways to do that is with blogs. But if your site has been static for months or even years, it’s time for some fresh content.
Your Site has a High Bounce Rate
The bounce rate on a website reflects how many people get to your site and “bounce” off of it almost as quickly as they get there.
You have about 4 seconds to capture a visitor; that is the extent of the average person’s attention span when it comes to your site. So it is critical you capture their attention and provide them with a way to interact with your site inside those crucial first few seconds.
Several factors play into bounce rates:
- The look and feel isn’t current, so visitors make the assumption that the information is not credible.
- Visitors can’t find what they are looking for as quickly as they expected.
- It is not clear what the website has to offer to solve their problem or feel better.
- The site is difficult to navigate without clear structure and flow.
You Have Visitors but Low Conversion Rate
Getting visitors to your site is a great first step, but if those people aren’t turning into customers at some point, then something is wrong with your site, and you need to take a look at it. For example, can visitors perform Click to Call – click on your phone number on your site from their phone and call you? It’s a simple enough thing to have your on your website, but a big thing for visitors who want to convert, who want to call you. If they can’t do it easily, they are more likely to move on to a competitor.
In some cases it might be worth putting up landing pages for specific campaigns like targeted Google ads campaigns which can lead to higher conversion rates than sending the same traffic to a page on the website.
You Get Frustrated Updating or Adding Content
Chances are if your website was designed a while back, it was not done in a platform that makes it easy for you to update content. Some companies also run to the frustrating scenario of having their website held hostage by the web design company. In today’s digital world, you should always have administrative rights to your site and be able to make edits any time you want via a content management system (CMS).
Here are some items you can take a look at updating on your site:
- New services or products
- New staff
- New location
- New or updated photo of your building, staff, products, etc.
- Events you and staff have participated in
- Awards and recognition
- Update your project portfolio
Your website Has a Branding Disconnect
It isn’t uncommon for a company’s branding or their mission to evolve over time. It is even more likely that their target audience has changed along with some of their services or products. Maybe there’s even been a change of ownership in your company. If any of these options is the case with your business, it is important to take a look at your website to make sure the look, offerings, and even the “feel” of the site still reflects your company.
Your Site Isn’t Mobile Friendly or Responsive
The term coined for mobile friendly websites is a responsive website. This means that the website responds to the size of the screen the viewer is using and adjusts the content accordingly. This way the information is easily accessible and visually legible regardless of the size of the screen. Google made a big announcement back in April of 2015 and made it very clear that they will penalize any website that was not a responsive website. From a practical point of view most people are having first contact with on a mobile device and will unlikely return if their experience is poor.
Visitors Cannot Quickly Understand Your Offer
It isn’t uncommon for a company’s branding or their mission to evolve over time. It is even more likely that their target audience has changed along with some of their services or products. Maybe there’s even been a change of ownership in your company. If any of these options is the case with your business, it is important to take a look at your website to make sure the look, offerings, and even the “feel” of the site still reflects your company.
You are Still Using Flash
Flash sites were a big fad for a while, and they did lend themselves to some beautiful web designs, but with the rise of iPhones especially, Flash sites went the way of the Dodo bird. Flash and Apple apparently decided not to play nice, and none of the iPhone will ever show Flash sites so no one with an iPhone can see the content on your website. Plus search engines focus on the content (the words) on a site to rank that site. Flash sites don’t show content in a way the search engines can recognize so that they won’t rank the sites.
Your Website is Slow
The loading speed of your website is essential to its success. Studies have shown that searchers are more likely to click away from a website that takes too much time to load. If you’re dealing with an outdated website, it might not load nearly as quickly as newer sites. Not only will a slow-loading website cause searchers to click away, but it can hurt your search rankings as well. For tips on improving your site’s loading speed, click here. The best way to speed up an older website, though, is a complete redesign.
Your Close Competitor Has Updated Their Website
You ought to be keeping tabs on what is now and good with your competitors website since your visitors will likely visit their website as well and compare. If one of your close competitors has updated their site to a more modern design, your company suddenly looks less trustworthy than theirs. So, if your competitor has recently changed their website, it’s a good idea to start the journey of redesigning your site to stay competitive.
Summary
So, in summary you should update if:
- your site has not been updated for a while
- your site is inconsistent with your branding and product or service offerings
- you have not updated the content recently (because it is easy to do so)
- you fail to capture their attention in the first 4-seconds, and they didn’t bounce
- your site is not mobile friendly
- you have poor SEO rankings, so customers cannot found your site quickly
- you have not made it easy for them to convert
- your site is Flash based
- your visitors cannot easily and quickly understand what you do
Hey let’s get your Website Redesign Project Off the Ground!
If any of the above statements reminds you of your site, we do recommend you talk to a professional like promoting a website in UK or https://www.firstpage.hk/seo/ in Hong Kong. They can guide you through the process of getting a website launched that becomes a productive marketing tool for your business.
