Telltale Signs Your Business Website Needs a Facelift
Guest Post by Daniel Matthews
If you’re a business owner, we probably don’t need to tell you that having a website is crucial. But, tossing up a site haphazardly and without a lot of care and attention might be even worse than not having one at all.
According to Stanford surveys, 75% of people judge the credibility of a company based on its website design.
Now, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more people are looking closely at websites than ever before. Not only do they have more time, but they have higher expectations for websites to perform since things like events, shopping, and dining in-person have been limited.
So, what are some of the telltale signs your business website needs a facelift? More importantly, what should you do about it?
Your Design is Outdated
You probably wouldn’t go to work wearing your pleather pants from the 90s, right? Well, if your website hasn’t been updated in quite some time and the design is stale and outdated, it might as well be wearing pleather pants.
Start with the right color palette for your site by choosing something that evokes emotion and speaks to who you are as a brand. Color schemes represent your values and can offer a first impression of your business.
In addition to having the right colors, fonts, and images on your site, your design should be:
- Easy to navigate
- Free of Flash
- Fast to load
Take a look at your design. Chances are, you’ll be able to tell quickly if it needs an update. The longer you ignore it, the more outdated it will look.
It’s Not Mobile-Friendly
Did you know that 20% of Google searches are performed on a mobile device? Furthermore, it’s estimated that 2 billion people worldwide only access the Internet from their phones.
If your website isn’t optimized for mobile devices, you could be missing out on countless customers or clients. People are used to websites loading in a matter of seconds. They also expect sites that can be viewed easily on any device, especially when they’re on the go.
Your website should be responsive, no matter how it’s being viewed. One way to help users, especially on mobile devices, is to create a customer journey map. This kind of map can help you understand how your customers are directly interacting with your business from the moment they get on your site to any post-purchasing experiences.
You only have one opportunity to make a first impression. If someone searches for your business on their phone and your website looks scattered and broken, they may not give you a second thought.
You Aren’t Ranking Well
One obvious sign that your website needs to make a change is if it isn’t doing well in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).
Search engines like Google have changed over the years. It’s no longer enough to stuff your websites with keywords and irrelevant content. Today, content is king. By creating relevant, actionable content, you can boost the traffic to your website and gain positive attention from search engines. Your content should:
- Provide value to the readers
- Be easily shareable
- Have a focus keyword (though not one that gets stuffed everywhere)
- Be easy to find throughout your site
While there are other factors to consider when it comes to determining if your website needs a facelift, these are a few common, obvious signs. It starts with looking over your site and considering how you might feel about it if you were a consumer looking at it for the first time. Keep these telltale signs in mind as you look things over, and reach out to a professional web designer if you don’t have experience. By putting a little extra time and effort into an outdated site, you can bring it back to life, and give your business a boost.
Author Bio: Daniel Matthews is a freelance writer from Boise, ID who has written for Social Media Today, Switch and Shift, Triple Pundit, and others. He specializes in company culture, sales and marketing, as well as tech, with a sprinkle of anything super-interesting in the world right now. You can connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn.
