Websites are never truly complete. You should always be adding to your website and tweaking the design and language to meet the needs of your customers. Without regular updates, you’ll fall behind the times and miss out on opportunities due to limitations in SEO, user experience and load speeds.
Each day, website trends adapt and change. You need to constantly evaluate your website to see if it’s adapting and changing with the trends. If not, you’ve likely outgrown your website and it’s time for a new website design.
For many business owners and marketing managers, undertaking a website project doesn’t sound like fun. So you want to make sure it’s time before embarking on such a project. We outline ways you can tell you’ve outgrown your website.
Your Website Design Embarrasses You
When you share your website, does it come with caveats of you saying things like “here’s my website, but it’s a little outdated.” Or do you find ways around sharing your website by guiding people to a Facebook page, Medium article or another third-party resource?
This is a big red flag that it’s time for a new website. As your business grows and changes, you want to make sure the look, tone and functionality of your website adapt and grow with you.
You should never be ashamed of your website. In fact, it’s your greatest marketing tool and the resource that most marketing activity points to. Upgrade your website if you’re ashamed of it or make excuses for why it looks or sounds a certain way.
You Don’t Know How Your Website Works
There are so many tools on the market today that make website management simple. If your current website’s operations are a total mystery to you, you’re likely avoiding updates and upgrades to that site. Fix this problem with an update to a WordPress website or other easy-to-use platform.
Outdated websites are also a huge security risk. You could become a victim of hacking, phishing or other security concerns. And if you collect customer information through your website, that could leave your customers vulnerable. One data breach could put your company out of business.
Take the time to discuss with a website designer an easier process for website updates. That way, you ensure the long-term viability of your site and protect your company’s online identity.
Your Website Features Old Branding and Messaging
Many businesses go through an evolution of how they talk about themselves and their overall look and design. To keep your visual identity consistent, you need to make sure your website matches your current branding standards.
If your website features an old logo, colors or design elements, it’s time for an update. And while you’re updating to a new look, you can upgrade your tools to make your website simpler to manage.
Your Competitors Are Using the Same Templates and Design
Some templates and designs become quite popular within an industry. While your website might have been unique a few years ago when you got started, today it looks just like everyone else’s website.
Popular WordPress themes can make your website feel stale. It won’t stand out among your competitors or be memorable to your customers, enticing them to come back.
While the theme you chose for your website might be attractive and function well, don’t forget to consider how well it portrays your brand and what makes you unique. Market differentiators should jump off the page and make it clear that your consumers should not shop anywhere else to meet their needs.
Professional website design gives you a custom website that helps you stand out and clearly communicate with your customers. You won’t find another website like yours on the web when you work with these professionals.
Mobile Optimization is Lacking on Your Site
Mobile website traffic grows each year. In 2013, the worldwide percent of mobile users was only 16.2 percent of total website traffic. By 2019, that percentage had skyrocketed to 53.3 percent.
It’s no big surprise that Google puts so much weight on mobile optimization when ranking websites. If your website doesn’t look great or is not easy to navigate from a mobile device, it’s certainly time you update it.
According to research, 54 percent of customers indicate that they won’t recommend a business with a poor mobile website design. Referrals and recommendations mean a lot in today’s connected and social online environment.
When evaluating your mobile website, don’t forget to think about its speed. Slow websites harm conversion rates immensely, but website speed also impacts search engine rankings and your relationships with your customers.
Use Google PageSpeed Insights to learn more about your website’s performance to evaluate if it’s time for an update.
Lack of Modern Website Technology is Holding You Back
An outdated website generally has slow load speeds, limited functionality and makes it challenging to rank well for SEO. If it seems like you’re working extremely hard and have a good online strategy but you aren’t seeing results, it’s time to modernize your website.
Review your Google Analytics for big changes from when you first launched your website. If you’re seeing valleys of low traffic from sources that had always served you well, it might not be your marketing efforts that are lacking, but your website.
Websites from just a few years ago might run on outdated templates, technology or formats that hold them back based on today’s standards. Heavy CSS files, weighty JavaScript and poorly optimized images and videos can do a great deal of harm to your traffic and website performance.
Captivate Your Audience with Modern Website Design Services
When a user lands on your site, you have only a few seconds to captivate them with your design and messaging. Don’t miss out on opportunities due to a website you’ve outgrown or that has become outdated.
Wieting Design provides outstanding website design services to delight your customers and earn more business through your online presence. Contact us to learn more about how we can improve your online presence with an updated and modern website design.
