How often do you go on your own website and have a careful look? Not just a glance at the landing (main) page, but really take a complete walk through. Or reach out and ask your friends and colleagues: Do you like our website?
Like most organizations you invested significant time and money into your online presence and want to get the most out of your investment. There does come a point though when what worked then isn’t really working anymore, and it’s time to replace or update your website. Relying on that “back then” investment for business today may actually be costing you today in missed opportunities and lost sales.
Some organizations have an evergreening policy, where they are frequently monitoring their web assets. Using available key performance indicators (KPIs) identify any weaknesses in their current online marketing strategies and respond to market changes by adding new site features, refreshing their content and introducing new lead generators such as social media and advertising.
Others build and forget. Not looking at their website until it is starting to lose them business instead of gaining new leads.
Here are a few key indicators that it is time to consider a new and/or improved website:
Site is not mobile friendly
If your website is not displaying all your content on smart phones then you are losing out on 50% of web browsing traffic. Google has committed to a mobile-first indexing strategy, which means your site will rank lower on any search if your site is not responsive to display on mobile devices.
Lacks modern browser support
If your website was built using bleeding-edge features supported by IE8 there is a chance that it doesn’t work as intended anymore on Chrome or Firefox. Use tools such as BrowserStack or Lambdatest to test your site on all the modern browsers, PC and mobile. If it doesn’t pass these tests, then it is time to consider an upgrade.
Outdated design and user experience
Just like bell-bottom jeans went out of style, there are website layouts and designs that have had their time. What looked great in 2012 may simply no longer appeal to your audience. An outdated site or user experience can translate into not just a loss of engagement, but also a lack or loss of trust in the company behind the presence.
Content is not optimized
If your content is not optimized for the current search trends on Google (load times, keyword rich, etc.) then you may be missing out on quality traffic.
No content strategy
Over the years the content on a site tends to get “Frankenstien-ed”. We add some important information here (Closed for Easter!) and a quick link there (Follow us on Twitter!) and before you know it, there is just no cohesive strategy to the links and content on your home page. Just like the design, you need to scrub your content up and rework and update it in a way that puts your best messaging forward.
You like your competitor’s site better
If you are looking at someone else’s website and wishing yours was more like theirs, then it’s definitely time to update. Because if you feel that way, there’s a good chance all your site visitors do too.
Want a second opinion on your site? Need to change up your online presence? Reach out to Aptitude and ask us how we can help.