Occasionally, we meet with business owners who aren’t sure they need our services. It’s often the case that they have been referred by a colleague or even a customer, but can’t tell whether they should actually invest in some upgrades to their existing web presence.
That’s understandable. Web design is about technical skill and personal preference. Besides, no one wants to spend money on creative work that won’t actually help them attract more leads or customers.
At the same time, however, there are a lot of websites out there that need immediate attention. Today, we want to give you seven clear-cut signs it’s time to make some improvements to the part of your business customers almost always see first…
1. Your Pages Load Slowly or Don’t Display at All
Marketing groups have tested and discovered that a customer visiting your website for the first time will stay for three seconds before deciding to stay or take their attention elsewhere. If your pages take that long—or longer—just to display, you aren’t going to get many conversions.
2. Your Website Isn’t Mobile Compatible
Similarly, more than half of all web traffic flows through phones and tablets these days. If you have an outdated website that lacks mobile compatibility, a sizable number of your potential customers are going to leave in frustration before you even get the chance to show them what makes your business unique.
3. You Aren’t Getting any Search Engine Visits
Google currently processes more than 5 billion search queries per day. That makes it a more effective source of customers then print ads, phone directories, and word-of-mouth referrals combined. A lack of search engine visibility is a marketing problem and could be a sign that you have technical problems with the construction of your web pages.
4. Your Content Looks Outdated to Visitors
If you only have a few seconds to impress new potential customers, then you don’t want them to see grainy photos or text referring to specials you ran months or years ago. In other words, if your content needs to be refreshed, it isn’t something you should put off updating.
5. You Don’t Own the Content on Your Pages
Even worse than having outdated content is hosting text and images you don’t have permission to use. This can open you up to legal liabilities from copyright holders, but also because you could be blacklisted from Google’s search engine and other major sources of web traffic.
6. There Are Parts of Your Website That Don’t Work
If you have pages, links, or plug-ins that don’t operate the way they are supposed to, it can lead to a whole host of problems. These issues undercut your professionalism, of course, but can also slow down your website and even open the door to hackers. Plus, Google and real-life customers both hate pages with broken links.
7. Your Web Analytics Tell a Grim Story
If traffic to your business website is declining, or the percentage of visitors who convert into leads and sales is low, you should treat that as an important warning. Your website exists to help your business make money and help your customers find you online. If it isn’t doing that, then what purpose does it really serve?