Over our years of web development we have come to identify some common threads. Business owners have a tendency to be on the ball about certain aspects of their enterprise — allocating the necessary budget for upkeep, scalability and growth.
Other aspects are typically pushed as non essential.
We frequently notice the painfully outdated designs and inefficient backend practices that many businesses may not even notice about their website. Sure, this may because we are founded on improving web solutions. But we’re not the only ones that notice. Your customers do to.
According to a website company, your website is often the first glance potential customers have at your business. First impressions matter, and that’s why your website needs to reflect the type of experience you want your customers to have.
That’s why we’re giving you the 10 Reasons Your Website Needs a Makeover.
Sluggish Loading Times
In 2019 — this isn’t so much a buzzkill as a bizkill. If your website has long loading times you are absolutely losing traffic and potential customers. In fact, 53% of visitors will abandon your website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Speed will never be out of style and it will continue to impact the ways in which customers pick and choose where their loyalty lies.
Less Than Mobile Friendly
Three years ago something big happened. For the first time ever, mobile and tablet traffic surpassed desktop — making mobile-friendly web design priority one. We have all experienced less than friendly mobile websites that cause us to pinch to scroll through basic navigation. This is a huge no-no for two reasons.
- You’re doing a serious number on the customer experience
- You’re losing SERP standings from being penalized
Messy Website Navigation
A website should be intuitive. There’s a reason why nearly every website you see has nearly endless templates but a very similar experience for the user. Familiarity and ease are an experience your customers enjoy. Nothing is more dampening on the customer experience than having to think and click your way through a website for basic information.
Your Missing in the Search Results
Search engine optimization (SEO) has many determining factors. Like we have mentioned — load times and mobile friendliness play a big part in potential bounce rate and SERP standings. But there are a lot of factors to consider when determining why your website may not be ranking in the first two pages. If you’re looking for more information on SEO and how you can improve, check this article by straightline web solutions
Outdated Information or Branding
When trying to determine if your website has outdated information, design or branding issues — you can ask yourself a few questions.
- Does the information on your website accurately reflect your current offerings or services?
- Are your new products or services being highlighted?
- Do your images accurately represent updated products or services?
- Is your logo up-to-date?
These are just a few factors that can affect how a customer interacts with your website and the experience they have.
Tough to Update
We are yet to have an uprising — so content is still king. In the land of websites content reigns as a driving force of traffic. If you are relying on a developer to make simple updates or changes to the content of your site or your blog, you are most likely using an outdated or difficult to use CMS.
Fresh content is necessary for your customers and for search engines. It’s important that your site is easy to update with new information or posts that keep your customers informed and the SERPS happy.
High Bounce Low Conversions
We mentioned in 10 Reasons Your Website Is Failing just how important analytics are to your website — and this is why. If the data you have collected indicates high bounce rates and low conversions, your web design is to blame. Difficulty navigating certain pages can certainly cause high bounce rates, but there are many other factors that can affect this.
Have you tested different call to actions (CTA)? Are your signup or purchase forms easy to use?
Check out your analytics to better understand which pages are failing and why. If it’s across the board, you may need to consider a new web design entirely.
Don’t Wait Forever
The web experience is a crucial part of the customer experience. What you offer them online will directly impact how they perceive your business and interact with it. This can mean the difference between a bounce and a purchase.
Building a solid foundation has long been the metaphor used for growth of any kind and web design is no different. The longer you wait to update or redesign your website the more costly it becomes. Not only is this true for you wallet but for your customers as well.