If you’ve landed on this article, the chances are you might be in the market for a new website. Having a website is one thing, but you can’t afford to rest on your digital laurels – if your site doesn’t keep up, you’ll quickly find that it’s costing you money and causing you to lose out on potential new business.
So how do you know when it’s time for a new one? While some of the signs are obvious, there can be other things going on behind the scenes that are damaging the credibility and rankability of your website, without you even realising it.
With that in mind, here are 10 sure signs that your website needs replacing.
1. It’s not mobile responsive
If your website isn’t mobile responsive, it means it can’t be viewed easily on a mobile phone or tablet because it thinks it’s being viewed on a desktop computer. Mobile responsive websites adapt the content to the device it’s being viewed on. This is the most important thing you can do for your website. Not only will that make it easier to navigate, but Google is now ranking and indexing websites based on the mobile experience, because the majority of people now browse the internet on their handheld devices.
2. It’s too slow
Technology has made us impatient and we now expect a website to load within a matter of seconds. If it doesn’t, we’ll go and find one that does, and for you that means another customer probably lost forever. Speed is another factor favoured by Google and if your website is slow, it will definitely be having a negative impact on your rankings. There are many other issues that could be affecting the speed and loading time of your website – get in touch for a free consultation to find out more.
3. It’s not secure
Websites need to have an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) or TLS (Transfer Layer Security). This is what browsers use to establish a secure and encrypted connection between your website and your customers’ devices. As of July 2018 most websites that do not use TLS will be marked as insecure by all major web browsers. Also, your increasingly savvy customers will be looking for this, and the search engines will too. SSL will reassure them that they can safely do business with you through your website.
4. Poor ranking
SEO is a very complex and delicate beast and can be affected by a variety of different factors. Better rankings can be achieved; and if you’re languishing somewhere beyond the second page, you may as well be nowhere. There are some basic measures you can take to improve your SEO, but if you’re still not sure, contact us and we can help.
5. High bounce, low conversion
Bounce rate refers to people who are clicking on to your website and immediately leaving without bothering to look any further. It could be they have come to the wrong place, or there could be another reason for this, such as any of the reasons listed here. If your bounce rate is high and your conversion rate is low (i.e no-one’s buying) then you need to take action.
6. Bad design
An outdated website sticks out like a sore thumb and is very likely to put people off. If your shop window looks old and run-down, the customers probably won’t come in. If you designed your website yourself using an online template 10 years ago – then trust us, you need a new one! The design of your website is vital in enticing visitors to stay a while longer and have a little look round. This means being consistent with your branding, and having a simple, sleek and professional style.
7. Bad functionality
People expect to be able to do more or less everything online these days, and if your website doesn’t enable that, then they may go elsewhere. It’s important to keep abreast of where your industry is going and make sure your website is keeping up with your competitors’. This means looking at things like being able to buy online, book online, search online, see pictures online and so on.
8.It’s not user-friendly
If your website is complicated, clunky or not intuitive, the chances are you need a new one. If people can’t navigate around it to find what they’re looking for pretty quickly they’ll soon be on their way.
9. Bad content (theirs nuthing werse then speling misteaks!)
If your website is lacking rich, interesting and informative content then it won’t be helping to sell your business at all. Good content is a key element of a professional-looking website. While bad content on its own doesn’t necessarily mean you need a new website, it’s often an indication that an upgrade is needed. Perhaps you put the content together years ago and it no longer reflects what you do.
10. No Content
Your website’s position in the search engine results is influenced by the content on your website. If you have little more than a few paragraphs about your services, then you’re not going to feature highly. Search engines like websites that are rich in content, that is regularly updated as part of an effective content marketing strategy. Having a website that is full of interesting and useful information is not only good for Google, but it also builds your credibility and attracts customers. Try building content around the questions your customers might ask (what are the top 10 signs you need a new website, for example). Achieving this additional content could mean creating a section for a blog, case studies, infographics, e-books etc.
Feel free to contact us for more information if you’ve come to the end of this article and decided you do in fact need a new website!
