Do you have this sense that your own website is possibly the cause of why you are NOT getting more traffic (leads) or more conversion (sales) online?
Do you ever ask yourself if it’s time to trade in a new one just like how you upgrade your own car, cell phone or even a computer?
If you are feeling this way chances are your website is indeed due for a revamp or website redesign. But how do you know?
Here are the top 12 signs you should look for that are going to help you determine if your website is ready for a whole new look.
Sign 1
Are you getting a lot of questions from visitors that your website should have already answered?
Your visitors should be able to instantly find the information they’re looking for, with the least number of clicks before they get to it. If your layout seems too busy and cluttered your visitors are going to become confused, feel lost, and leave the site.
Instead, you want to be certain your website is easy to navigate, delivers information quickly and efficiently, has clear titles that everyone can understand, and offers content that generates leads and sales.
At TAGET Media, we are a web design company in Nigeria we randomly survey our site visitors to determine if they were able to find everything they need on their website.
Sign 2
Does the technology behind your site date back years – and years?
Web design technology is constantly changing, which is why you don’t want to be relying on an older model.
You want to feel certain your design enhances your content and the message you’re working so hard to promote.
So how do you determine the difference between an outmoded design and a contemporary one? There are certain standards to look for.
First, if you still use Flash intros, or if your content relies on tables, then your website is definitely outdated. If you use the host site WordPress and you haven’t updated it in a while, most likely your plug-ins and other content management features are also long past their prime.
Modernising the technology behind your website will pay off: that’s going to make your site far more user-friendly and accessible, which is going to provide a significant boost (High traffic) when it comes to your search engine results. In fact, it’s a smart idea to revamp the look and functionality of your site every two to three years.
Sign 3
Have you noticed your website doesn’t adjust itself according to the screen size?
Is your site mobile friendly?
That means you should adjust it according to screen size to provide the optimal viewing experience regardless of whether your visitors come from desktop computers, tablets, or cell phones.
Do you know that if your website is not mobile friendly, Google will NOT prioritise your website to users that are browsing on their mobile phones?
Google officially announced on March 26, 2018, that they are rolling out mobile first indexing.
Having mobile-friendly content and website is still helpful for those looking at ways to perform better in mobile search results.
In order to offer your visitors, the best possible experience once they’ve clicked on your link, you need to be certain your website is responsive to them. It is best practice to not only have your website be responsive on desktop, but also on mobile and tablets.
Statistics show that over 50% of global web traffic originates from mobile devices. To determine if your website is really mobile friendly per Google standards, use their free Mobile-Friendly Test Tool.
Sign 4
Does it take your website forever to load? Slow-Loading-Time?
Asking your visitors to sit and wait and wait while it takes an excruciatingly long time for your website to load is pretty risky; most of your visitors are likely to recognise a poor user experience when they see that and chances are you’ll lose them.
And if your site takes forever to load, you’re going to get penalised by search engines.
Ideally, you want your website to load within 3 seconds to avoid the risk of disengaging and losing potential customers.
There are numerous factors that can cause your website to be slow, including an outdated technology and have too many large images. Have a professional web development team audit your site. Maybe it’s time for a web redesign.
Here are two free tools from Google for you to test your website speed. 1. Google mobile speed test
Sign 5
Are you employing functions and features that are no longer used or are not working properly?
Are your functions and features outdated? Here’s what to look for:
Images not loading.
Animation no longer working.
Social shares have become inactive.
Social shares are no longer working properly.
Broken links multiple pages.
Features not showing up or broken.
Any and all of these factors can contribute to an unpleasant user experience, and you’ll want to address them and fast.
Sign 6
Do you have a high bounce rate, with visitors failing to navigate past the homepage?
A bounce rate is the percentage of visitors to a particular website who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page.
If your Google Analytics show you have a high bounce rate, there are many reasons why users may not be interacting with your website. They can include:
Lack of a Call-to-Action button;
Technical errors on the website;
Slow loading time;
Content that no longer seems relevant or useful to your viewers.
A poor homepage layout
As a rule of thumb, a bounce rate in the range of
26 to 40 percent is excellent.
41 to 55 percent is roughly average.
56 to 70 percent is higher than average but may not be cause for alarm depending on the website.
Anything over 70 percent is disappointing for everything outside of blogs, news, events, etc.
The good news is there are tools you can use to analyse your website to measure consumer behaviour and determine what’s working and what isn’t.
Google Analytics is one of the most popular tools to monitor your website’s performance, while another effective tool for doing that is Heat Map, which will provide you with a visual representation of where your visitors are clicking. Sometimes all you need is a homepage redesign so that users can navigate your site more effectively.
Sign 7
Do you know if your brand is well represented?
As your company grows and your brand evolves, the role that your website content plays increases significantly. The look and aesthetics of your website need to be aligned with your content so your brand message is accurately represented.
Otherwise, the user is likely to lose trust in your brand — and most likely they’re going to take their business elsewhere.
Here are some questions to consider.
When a visitor comes to your website, can they tell what your message is and what ou’re offering them within the first few seconds?
If they’ve seen your business cards or other collateral, does your website design looks onsistent with your other marketing material?
Does it reflect the personality and nature of your company?
All these elements help build trust in your brand. It’s also going to make it more memorable and will help you stand out from the competition.
Sign 8
Do you have products or services not listed on your website, meaning your content is outdated?
This concern goes hand-in-hand with the signs listed above. Imagine a potential client calling to inquire about a service he read about on your website, then having to explain that it’s a service you no longer offer? Or that the pricing is wrong?
Have you checked your website to be certain that you’ve updated the names of your team members and workers? If they’re no longer with you, you want to be sure you’ve removed their names from your website.
Errors in content that haven’t been updated look amateurish and are a turn off for customers.The last thing you want is to lose your credibility with them.
Sign 9
It is difficult to add content without having to hire someone to do it?
If you want to ensure your site is performing well when it comes to search engine optimisation and is providing a first-rate user experience, it’s important to keep your website updated.
Posting articles on industry related news, offering your viewers a blog, and updating your content on a regular basis adds value to the user experience.
It’s also going to help considerably with your site’s search engine ranking.
The most effective way to do this yourself is to have a website with a content management system. Do you have easy access to update your content? If not, maybe it’s time to get your website rebuilt.
Sign 10
Is your website failing to generate leads or sales?
Your website is your 24 hours, 7 days a week store. Ultimately, you should be generating traffic, leads and sales all hours of the day.
If you are not, it is a clear sign that the website is no longer serving its purpose.
Your website should NOT just look beautiful, it should contain many CALL TO ACTION buttons and languages. In addition to users easily seeing your phone number, leads forms, directions to your store, etc.
In order to convert your visitors into clients, your website should make it clear what actions visitors need to take – to get more information, to place an order, to sign up for an email newsletter, etc., making it obvious what you want them to do on your page.
For this reason, it’s important that your website has a specific goal that’s defined with different user personas in mind. Start by putting yourself in the shoes of your potential clients.
What problems are you looking to solve for them?
What value can they get from your content?
What steps do they need to take to get your services?
A structure and content audit might be ideal to ensure your website provides the optimal journey for your buyer, from the moment they land on your page, right through their buying process.
Sign 11
Do you have a site that doesn’t look fresh, or isn’t keeping up with the latest Web Design Trends?
What are the signs that your website no longer looks fresh or relevant? Click on your site and check to see if you’re missing any of these:
Broken grid layouts;
Custom illustrations;
Bright and bold colors and gradients;
Scroll triggered animations.
Those are some of the trends predominating nowadays in web design.Websites with layouts based on grids are at risk of looking outdated to the eyes of the today’s user.
Not all buyer personas are impressed by artsy eye-catching techniques, but it’s important that your website at least look professional, is easy to read, allows for smooth viewer interactions and isn’t challenging to use.
Every site visitor judges professionalism of a website or a company by its cover.Does your website make a good first impression?
Sign 12
Does your website have a ton of search engine errors?
Search engine errors are the most overlooked aspect of every website owner.
Why? because their own developers or web designers DO NOT know anything about it or even know how to find it.
At the end of the day, when you build a website there are certain guidelines you have to follow if you want to rank on top of search engines. Hence why all websites to date shall be “search engine friendly”.
Conclusion
How many of these questions did you answer yes to?
If you said YES to one of these signs then you need to re-assess your website and start planning for a website redesign.
Imagine how much business are you loosing right now because of something so simple to fix?
A professional and well-done website is not a small investment but when done right, it can triple and quadruple your sales.
We recommend that you seek a professional web design and development company evaluate your website and offer suggestions for how it can be improved.
Keep in mind, I said “COMPANY” not a freelancer, not yourself and not your friend.
cc: chatterbuzzmedia