How Do You Know It’s Time to Update Your Website? Five Warning Signs.
So you’ve had your website for a while and it’s been fine and serviceable. However, it’s also not been touched in several years and you’re wondering if it’s worth spending the time and money updating it. Do you really need to update your website? How do you know when your website has become outdated or is no longer serving your business as well as it should? Here are a few telltale signs that it’s time to update your website.
1. Your Website Takes Too Long to Load
This is an obvious–and major–red flag that something is not right with your website. Often, a site taking too long to load indicates that the cache needs to be cleaned up somewhere. There may be a bug involved, or the system is too clunky to be compatible with today’s internet speeds. Your images may be too large, which slows the whole website down. Whatever the reason, a site that takes several minutes to load will lose visitors pretty quickly, increasing your bounce rate and tanking your search engine optimization. You want to make sure your site loads in just a few seconds.
2. Your Website is Not Responsive
What is a responsive website? It’s a website that is able to adapt to whatever device it’s being viewed on, whether that’s a laptop, desktop, tablet, or phone. Considering that about 70% of users are viewing your website on a mobile device, and the vast majority of those mobile visitors will not return to your website if it is not mobile-friendly, you need to make sure your website looks just as perfect and functions just as well on a phone as on a computer.
3. Your Website is Not Aesthetically Pleasing
If your website is too busy or flashy, or if there is too much text or not enough text, or if the colors don’t go well together or the images are grainy, then users will not have a good emotional response when landing on your homepage. Clutter is known to increase anxiety, so a cluttered website will likely do the same. Website design is an entire field of practice, so you know there is science and strategy behind it. If your website is using an out-of-date template, is overwhelming to navigate, or is generally not pleasing to the eye, it’s time for an update.
4. Your Website Does Not Have Correct or Current Content
Over time, the services or products you offer may change or expand, your contact information may change, and there may be changes within industry standards that you may want to share with your visitors. In any of these cases, you want to make sure that the content on your website accurately reflects the way your business is currently run and what you offer clients today. If it’s been years since you last updated the content of your website, it’s likely time for a revisit.
5. Web Visits Are Not Resulting in New Clients
If you find you are getting many web visitors but very few (or no) new clients from those visits, something is amiss. Either you don’t have correct information on your website, you don’t have an easy way to get in touch, or your website is not functioning properly in order to convert visits into sales. After all, what is the purpose of a website if it is not bringing in clients?
No matter the reason, it’s good to audit your website every so often to make sure it is running smoothly and looks the way it should. If you find it is time to update your website, experts like the ones at Thump Local are your best bet for taking your website to the next level and making sure you get the most out of it.