In today’s digital age, it is crucial for your business to have an online presence. While some brands are happy with a regularly updated Facebook page, most see the need to invest in a website. However, those who conduct their business in person often overlook the importance of having a functional and well-optimized website.
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Nowadays, your website is considered an integral component of your brand and marketing. However, having a website alone won’t suffice. You also need a website design that’s attractive, functional, and easy to navigate to generate quality and relevant leads and convert them into buying customers.
In addition, your web design should be updated and should keep up with your branding. If you have updated your brand but have left out updating your website, the latter would no longer reflect your brand effectively and the two can feel separate from each other. Below are some signs your current web design is not helping your business:
It is incompatible with web browsers.
Ideally, your website must be compatible with all web browsers as some functionality will work better on certain browsers than others. If your current web design breaks routinely and is too complex, it would be best to update your website regularly.
Ensuring your website works seamlessly on web browsers like Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Edge, Safari, etc., can help guarantee your visitors will have a great user experience. A website that works well with most web browsers can also warrant fewer drop-offs and lesser missed sales opportunities.
Your website is not responsive.
A responsive web design ensures your website adjusts to the screen size it is viewed on. Websites must be formatted to various screens for better SEO results and impeccable user experience. This is especially important since mobile devices now account for at least half of the web traffic worldwide.
While a website that is not responsive will still work, it can make your website fiddly to use and will entail a lot of scrolling. Ensuring your website is mobile-friendly can also improve your usability significantly. Moreover, a responsive web design can help improve your search engine rankings as Google prefers it.
You have outdated imagery.
If you have a website, it is recommended that you choose ones that will positively impact your website’s objectives. Stock imagery can be great for social media and blogs. However, using images you have taken can help make your design appear more authentic to your vision and brand.
Your conversions are poor.
If your leads drop consistently and you are not getting as much traffic as you used to, your web design can be the culprit. If you don’t know where to look or what to do, getting professional help is recommended. Experts can help you determine the areas you need to focus on when updating your website.
You need to also check if you have any issues with your technical SEO. It is also crucial that you assess if your website layout is confusing to your users and visitors. Whatever the problem, you need to remember that your website should be designed to build awareness and knowledge of your brand.
Your content is old or incorrect.
When the content and messaging on your website no longer represent your business, it is time for an upgrade. Ideally, your website content should be concise and clear and explain what your business can provide. You must also include the main keywords to ensure you rank on the search engines and generate relevant traffic.
Your SEO tactics are outdated.
Simply put, search engine optimization (SEO) is a range of processes designed to help increase your website’s visibility on search engines. If your website is not showing in the search results, you must find out what the problem is.
With 87% of searches starting with Google, you will miss out if you are not appearing in the search engine results. You might also need to do some website tweaking to improve your SEO results.
If your website is five years (or older), it is likely no longer built to meet the current SEO requirements. Fixing your outdated website can also help boost your technical SEO efforts like site speed and link building.
You have a high bounce rate.
If your website has a high bounce rate, it indicates something is not working. Likely, your visitors are not finding what they are looking for or your website is too complex to understand. It is also possible that your website is not good enough to entice visitors to stick around and explore your website further.
In line with this, you need to check how relevant your website is to your target audience. Is your website providing the answers your target audience is looking for? You must fully understand the people you are targeting before you update your website. You need to communicate how your products/services can help them.
Final Thoughts
As new website features are updated and developed regularly, your website’s functionality can become outdated and clunky. At one point or another, you need to update your website design to create a great user experience and increase conversions and profitability.