If you’ve ever asked yourself, “How do I know when my company needs a new website?” then these 6 tell-tale signs will help you determine whether or not it’s time to start planning for a website redesign. Watch this short video to see if your current website could be costing you business.
1. Your Website Wasn’t Designed for Tablets and Smartphones
A few years back the majority of shoppers were probably visiting your website from desktops. Perhaps a small percentage were on smartphones. But today’s shoppers are finding businesses online by using multiple devices- from desktops to iPads to smartphones. So if you want your mobile visitors sticking around, then you really need responsive design.
Responsive design is the best approach for creating a mobile-friendly website for users (even Google recommends responsive). A responsive website is one that can be used across devices, and because it resizes to fit the screen sizes of different devices, it lets your visitors read the text, click through to other pages, and submit contact forms without having to fuss with pinching or side-swiping their screen.
2. Your Home Page is a Hot Mess
I get it- you have a lot to tell customers about your business in a very short amount of time.
With a mere 3 seconds to capture your new visitors’ attention and tell them what to do next, your home page needs to be clear, organized, and inviting- or else you risk the chances that they’ll bounce back to the search engines and click through to your competitor’s website.
Use the home page to speak to your ideal customers’ most important needs. Ask yourself, “self, what should visitors do now that they’re on my website?” From there, keep it simple by highlighting the 3-4 most important things visitors should do to learn more.
3. Your Navigation Doesn’t Actually Help Visitors Navigate
Your website’s navigation is the set of links along the top of the page which guide visitors to other pages on your website.
Notice that I used the term guide.
When a website’s navigation is poorly organized, hard to understand, or overwhelms visitors by presenting too many options, it can cause friction that prevents visitors from learning about (and even contacting) your business.
Today’s websites typically use a navigation that’s displayed horizontally across the top of every page, as this makes it easy for visitors to click-through to different pages and learn more about a business. In addition, the buttons need to be large enough for visitors to tap when using the site on a tablet or smartphone.
4. Your Website is (Still) Using Flash
We’ve seen flash used in a variety of ways on websites- from photo galleries to images to even (gasp!) a website’s navigation. Imagine how you would feel after landing on a website and then having to install a plugin just to see the navigation! Fewer browsers are supporting flash these days, often requiring users to install a plugin in order to see flash.
To make matters worse, flash isn’t exactly SEO-friendly, as search engines recommend using HTML for your content and navigation.
Keep yourself up-to-date with coding that gives your potential customers a better experience on your website.
5. Your Business Has Evolved
Anything from a new logo to a fresh color scheme to a major change in your products or services can be enough to spur a website redesign.
Why? Because the first place most shoppers go to find out who you are, what you do, and whether or not you can help solve their problems, is your website.
So if your website has outdated information about your products or services, staff, or even contact information (Name, Address, Phone number), then it’s time for you to upgrade to a website that fits your business and reflects who you are today.
6. You Can’t Update Your Own Website
Speaking of information, how would you feel about having complete control over your company’s website content- adding new images, text copy, and pages to your site without ever having to learn code?
Websites have come a long way since the early days of the web, as user-friendly Content Management Systems (CMS) allow small-medium sized businesses to update their own website without having to contact their webmaster.
This can result in saved time and money for website maintenance, which gives you more time to focus on your business.
The most popular CMS on the web is WordPress, which just so happens to be the CMS of choice when we build custom websites for hotels, restaurants, and other businesses. WordPress is a user-friendly system that empowers website owners easily manage their website’s pages, photos, copy, and blog, all from a single online platform.
Need a Website that Helps Grow Your Business?
Then request your free website assessment with Mannix Marketing, Inc. today.
