Your Website Is Vital for a Successful Business
Your website is the most critical asset in your digital marketing arsenal. More than Facebook, and yep, even more, important than selfies on Instagram. Not only is it the beacon for your business’s marketing, but it also serves as a sales tool that’s on the job 24/7. Your website delivers vital information about your business to new potential customers, leading them towards contacting you, or not – if that be the case.
With your website being so critical to the success of your business, it’s vital that it delivers the correct message to the right people at the right time. In this blog, we go over the twelve tell-tale signs that your website is underperforming and it’s time to consider a redesign.
Reasons why your website needs a redesign
Based on a study by Standford University, 75% of people will grade your business based on their experience with your website. If you rely on-site to deliver a percentage of new customers into your business, then it’s imperative that your website is the best it can be. After all, your site, in many cases is the first point of contact with potential customers – so it needs to represent your business correctly to deliver results.
It’s important to understand that on the internet trends don’t last forever. On the flip side, designs come and go very quickly. Hanging onto an old website just because it worked in the past is not a good strategy. A poorly designed and built website can make a negative impact across all of your digital marketing strategies from its visibility in search engines to how it converts visitors into customers.
Is your website five years old, or even older? If you answered yes, then it’s time to give your site some much-needed love. Why? Because websites, and how people interact with them has changed a lot over those years!
Apart from new designs and how visitors now expect a website to perform, search engine algorithms have also drastically changed over the years to keep up with trends. Did you know that around 50% of traffic on websites is on mobile devices? With the changes in users devices, Google has now rolled out mobile-first algorithms, meaning websites that are mobile-friendly are now ranking higher than those that are not. If your site is not mobile-friendly, you would be losing a lot of traffic without even knowing it.
Ideally, you should be revising your website every two years, with consistently fresh content added regularly.
If your website is showing any of the following twelve tell-tale signs, it’s time to consider a fresh new design and build for your website.
12 Signs Its Time to Redesign Your Website
1. Your Website Isn’t Responsive or Mobile-Friendly
As we have already mentioned, these days a majority of users surfing the internet come from mobiles rather than PCs. Not only that, but data shows that return visitors will often visit your website on various devices during their buying journey. For this reason, it’s essential that your website has a responsive design that can adapt to multiple screen sizes.
An unresponsive website can destroy a user’s experience with it and therefore your business. With that in many cases, a lot of those visitors will not return. So, if your website is not responsive, it’s time for a redesign.
2. Your Bounce Rate Is High
Simply put, bounce rate is the metric that describes when a visitor lands on your website, then leaves without visiting more than one page.
To find your current bounce rate, make sure you check out your analytics. Generally, a high bounce rate is around and over 50%.
There are several reasons why you may have a high bounce rate, your website’s design and its structure are usually the key factors you should pay attention to. If your website has a poor user experience, then this will be causing your bounce rate to skyrocket. This is a clear sign that your website needs a redesign.
3. Your Site Has Outdated Content
Outdated content is another contributor to a poor performing website with both users and search engines. Even if your content is just six months old, you run the risk of losing relevancy to potential clients and your rankings in Google will drop over time. Lastly, if your content is not structured correctly, it will fail at what it meant to deliver; informing and educating visitors.
4. You Find It Hard to Update
To our point at number three, there could be a reason why you have outdated content. More times than not, it’s because you are unable to update the content yourself, and it’s an expensive exercise to outsource. That’s why we recommend a content management system. We suggest a custom WordPress website as the best content management system to ensure you can update your content quickly.
5. Your Website Is Slow to Load
Now more than ever, the loading speed of your website is the crucial factor for both customer conversion and your SEO rankings. According to a study by Kissmetrics, 40% of visitors will give up on a website if it takes longer than four seconds to fully load – especially on mobile devices.
If your website takes longer than five seconds to load, it’s time to consider a website rebuild.
6. Your Website Has a Poor Conversion Rate
If built correctly, your website should be converting visitors into customers. The design should lead users to quickly discover what they are looking for and perform the action you would like them to make.
Conversions can be defined in many ways. Some simple examples would be contacting you via a form or requesting a quote.
If users find your website difficult to navigate and are unable to find what they are looking for, then your conversion rates will be lower than they should be.
If your website is not converting, then it’s a tell-tale sign your website needs a redesign.
7. It’s Slipping down the Search Rankings
Similar to point number six and equally as alarming. A successful SEO strategy within your digital marketing war chest is vital to being visible online.
If your website is not ranking or has been falling down the ranks, it’s time to think about a new design and strategy.
8. It No Longer Reflects Your Brand and Business
Times change. It’s just the way things are. Styles and fashions come and go quickly. Your brand, if positioned correctly will endure the long term. But when it comes to web design, you need to stay up to date with evolving trends to give a great first impression and make users engaged.
9. Some Parts Don’t Work Anymore, or Even Worse Broken
Just like it’s crucial to keep up with trends for design, it’s also important to keep up with the change in internet technologies. Perhaps you had some great functionality but the script it relied upon no longer works anymore. Maybe you started with a simple WordPress site that worked and functioned beautifully. Then you or your developer couldn’t resist temptation and has added multiple new plugins in the quest for cool new features. Now it’s starting to creak and not function like it used to, and worse still it could be vulnerable to attack.
Just like it is essential to keep up to date with current trends, it’s equally as necessary to keep up with internet technologies. User experience changes and with that you need to ensure your design delivers an up to date and easy to use experience.
10. Your Competitors Are Getting More Traction
You need to stand out from the crowd because business is a ruthless game. If you are not doing your best to keep yourself relevant, then chances are someone else will be. Get back on top of your game with a website redesign.
11. It Looks and Feels Dated
If your website is over three years old, you are likely straggling behind in design trends. Yes, three years is a long time on the internet and, when your website keeps on working and bringing in leads, it’s easy to put a redesign on the back of your to-do list.
On the internet, three years is a long time. If your website is older than that, then it’s likely you are lagging behind in design trends. Time does move fast, and it is easy to put a redesign to the back of the list, but having an up to date site will give you that extra chance at standing out and engaging your users.
12. You’ve Stopped Directing People to Your Site
The point here is pride. Your website should be your pride and joy. If you are trying to cover it up, it’s time to give it some love again.
Conclusion – If Yes to Any of These Points, It’s Time for a Redesign
The point here is pride. Your website should be your pride and joy. If you are trying to cover it up, it’s time to give it some love again.
