x (Spoilers) it's not as often as you think
Imagine walking into a claustrophobic office building littered with random sales brochures. You sit down, but all the chairs in the waiting room are covered in stacks of heavy binders.
The receptionist is rude, unhelpful and leaves you with more questions than answers.
By the time someone finally comes out to greet you, you’re probably ready to go home.
When walking into an office building, the most important thing you want a potential client to think is, “I want to be a part of this.” The same is true for your website.
It only takes 1/10th of a second for someone to have a lasting negative impression of your company based on your appearance, and websites are no exception.
The good news is that it’s just as easy to make a great first impression as it is to create a poor one.
1) YOU NEED TO ADD OR SIMPLIFY A FEW THINGS
Before pursuing a complete website update, which can be a major ordeal, consider whether or not a few simple adjustments could help bring your site to the next level.
A great website that drives traffic doesn’t have to be complex design-wise. The key factor is always ease-of-use and great content.
All you need is something simple, familiar and helpful. If your website isn’t hitting those three benchmarks it’s time to update.
2) YOUR WEBSITE IS SLOW
Like really slow. Approximately 47% of users expect a website to load within two seconds or less. Any longer than that, and they’ll click off.
Additionally, if the content they were promised isn’t on the page that loads, they’ll find a website that does have what they’re looking for and abandon yours.
These things contribute to a little something called Bounce Rate, which has a significant impact on SEO performance.
There are a lot of simple changes you can make to improve the performance of an outdated website; better content, image compression, caching tools etc.
If you’re using a WordPress website, you can make many of these changes yourself.
3) YOU GET ASKED THE SAME QUESTIONS OVER AND OVER
When businesses first get started, they use a lot of open source and free tools to communicate with clients, manage their websites and schedule meetings.
At first, this works pretty well. But after a while, you may find yourself answering the same questions about what you do and how you do it repeatedly.
Usually through several different platforms.
This is a significant sign that your website may not be equipped with the necessary tools to meet your current needs.
Maybe you need an FAQ Page or more detailed service information. Perhaps you need a better way to integrate social media with the information already available on your website
Payment gateways, booking forms—whatever issues you’re facing, there is probably a solution that will save you hundreds of unpaid hours doing tasks that could be automated.
4) YOUR BUSINESS HAS CHANGED
Smart businesses pivot to meet changing demands in their industry. Over time you may have switched focus to highlight one or two key services with the best margins or a flagship product.
Ownership changes, name changes, or a new vision for what your company could be are all great reasons to update a website.
Although full website updates or redesigns can be intensive they are one of the best ways to cement your brand standards and messaging in a concrete way.
5) YOU HATE YOUR WEBSITE
If you’ve had a bad experience with a web designer in the past, you may find yourself stuck with a website you hate and be hesitant to give it another go.
Sure it might get the job done, but it’s not the vision you had for your company and that’s unacceptable.
Paying to park your domain and host your website adds up! If you’re not getting the most out of the website you have it can feel like a waste of money.
You should never have a hard time looking at your own website. Period.
