Your website can be a considerable investment and it should provide you a return.
Whether that comes from direct online sales, leads, or a strong impression of your brand, there are many ways your online presence can impact your bottom line.
It can be a bitter pill to swallow to redesign your website after you spent thousands of dollars on it a few years ago. But understand that companies change their websites every few years, if not sooner. It’s important to stay on top of new technology, code and online methods of driving traffic to your website. And if your website bothers you because it’s poorly designed, or it functions poorly – then it also bothers your potential customers! Don’t let money be the motivator (or lack thereof) in why you’re not redesigning. The investment you make in a new site will be worth the increase in visits and conversions!
You Need a New Website When…
1. You realize your business should look better than your competitors.
Why? Because you are better than them. A new website says a lot about your business: it’s a window into your company; it’s an advertisement of your products and services; it’s the first point of contact for many of your future customers.
2. You know your site should keep up with modern browsing trends.
A huge number of internet traffic is via mobile devices. (And this figure is increasing.) You need to make sure that your content, your design, and your user experience is optimized for all types of devices. You don’t just need a new website, you need a new mobile-responsive website.
3. Potential customers can’t find you when they do a search.
Having an informative, good website is only half the battle. 90% of people looking for a product or service start their search online using a search engine. If your website is not optimized for search engine crawlers, you’re missing out on significant traffic and sales opportunities. Sites need to be built with search engines in mind – if you built your site even just three years ago, Google has made numerous algorithm updates that your site needs to optimize for.
4. Your website uses outdated, visually unappealing graphics and images.
You do great work, but your website doesn’t show it…therefore your prospects don’t know it!
5. You want to ensure that you’re making the most of social media.
Your present website doesn’t have links to your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ pages. The pages on your website don’t have buttons to allow users to share your news and blog content on their own social media channels. Other people sharing your posts and pages is free advertising. You need a new website because you want free advertising!
6. It doesn’t work on mobile devices.
You know how frustrating it is to have to pinch and squeeze to move around on a website that isn’t mobile responsive. Most people get so annoyed they just leave, never to return. Google also ranks responsive sites higher than those that aren’t. You want a responsive website to give visitors a great user experience…on any device!
7. You’re not getting enough leads from your website.
Your website should do more for you than be an online business card. It should act as a marketing tool to introduce new clients to your business, your products/services, and further opportunities down the sales funnel.
Consider the opportunities for leads on your website: Are your forms easy to find and fill out? Do they require a minimal amount of information? Are there multiple ways to request quotes? Is your contact information clearly listed and easy to find? Are there multiple calls-to-action? The easier you make it for website visitors to contact you, the more contacts you will receive!
TIP: Make sure your NAP (name, address, phone number) data is consistent through every online resource that mentions your company. It will help your local SEO and more!
