Your website is your business’s window to the world, and while there are tons of ways that you can reach your audience, a poorly designed website will end up hurting you in the end.
This is where a large portion of your audience will make their initial contact with you, and a poor website might end up scaring away those who went through another medium.
This is why you should do everything in your power to make sure that your site looks professional, is functional, and ultimately provides the best experience to your audience. Here are some clear signs that your site may be due for a makeover.
Your Traffic is Dropping
If you’re paying attention to your metrics and noticed a sudden drop in traffic, it might be because you were penalized for your website. And in many cases, this is because your site is either outdated or not good enough.
Google uses bounce rates as one of the criteria to determine in which order sites should appear in search results. If your site’s bounce rates are too high, then it’s often an indication that there’s something you need to fix with your website.
However, it’s not always easy to tell yourself, as it may be due to other factors. For example, it could be because your navigation is unclear or clunky, or the text is not good enough. Your site may also not look good on mobile devices.
This is why it would be wise that you have your site audited by a qualified team and hear their recommendations. Web development services like Appetiser, for instance, will be able to look at your site in detail and see exactly what’s wrong with it. They have been in the business for years and have worked with some of the world’s biggest brands. They will be able to come up with a plan and tell you if your site could benefit from a complete redesign.
It’s Slow
Another thing that will get you the proverbial Google slap is if your site is not performant enough. In some cases, your host could be a cause. So, switching to a dedicated solution, or even a private server if you have the means and your operation calls for it, could be all that you need.
However, in many cases, it might be because of on-page factors. If you still have Flash, for instance, this is an unnecessarily heavy format that could be easily replaced by something like HTML5. Some image formats can also make a huge difference, so compressing what you can or changing for lighter formats could get you the same results, only faster.
This is another area where working with a team will help. They will automatically identify data-intensive elements on your page, and could instantly boost your site’s speed.
It Was Designed More than 5 Years Ago
While there are no expiration dates on websites, they will eventually start to look old no matter how great they once looked. Trends change all the time, and search engines change their best practices as well.
There are also new technologies that could improve the user experience, and get you better results. If you had your website made more than 5 years ago, you should definitely consider an overhaul.
It’s Not Responsive
If your site is not responsive yet, or if you don’t even know what that means, then you’re already suffering from it. Google recently switched to its mobile-first index. This means that the mobile version of your website will be the one used to determine your ranking.
However, you can’t simply have a mobile version of your site anymore. The site needs to adjust to whichever device it’s accessed through, and it has to be designed in a way that provides a quality experience to visitors.
If it doesn’t, then your rankings will suffer, as well as your traffic and conversions. You can’t afford to ignore online customers. According to data from Statista, more than 52% of all web traffic today comes from mobile devices. So, not only are major search engines adapting to this reality, but you might be phasing out the majority of your potential clients – clients you may never see again.
Your Site is Not Up to Par Anymore
We suggest that you take a good look at all the websites of your direct competitors. If yours doesn’t look the part, then it’s time for a change. It’s that simple. The good news, however, is that you now have tons of inspiration on what you would like, and examples to show your development team.
If your site falls into any of these categories, then we strongly suggest that you contact a professional today and see what could and should be done. This is a small investment for all the potential conversions that you may be losing on a daily basis.