Whether you’re frustrated by an underperforming website or overwhelmed by the seemingly endless amount of work it takes to succeed online
5 questions to help decide if it’s time for a website update
Question #1
Does your website feel old and you have not touched it in years?
Do you know how to update your site, forgotten how to even login out just feel overwhelmed
Question #2
Were people flipping open their phones when your site was launched?
If your website was launched before everyone was carrying around a smartphone, chances are it’s time to consider an update. Today, more web searches are done on smart phones than on desktop computers. If someone searches for your products or services on a mobile phone, will your site come up in the search results? And if it does and they visit your website, can visitors navigate on a phone?
Question #3
Has your content become cluttered and confusing to visitors?
Strategies for organizing website content have changed over time. While a few years back common practice was to create long drop-down menus listing every kind of info available on your site and making visitors cross eyed as they search for content, today we have many options to make your site easy to navigate.
Question #4
Do you have to “contact your IT” to add or modify content on your site?
If you have to contact your “IT” person or track down a former employee’s techie nephew every time a change is made, it might be time to consider moving your site to a Content Management System (CMS). A CMS will make it easy for anyone who know how to use a simple text editor to add or change text, images and PDFs or add pages and posts.
Question #5
Was your site developed before tweeting and hashtags were marketing buzz words?
Social media has become an important part of digital marketing. Not only do visitors expect to find your social media assets from your website but social media widgets can also be added to your site to keep your content fresh! With a site built using contemporary standards, social media can be easily integrated so visitors can easily find, share and promote your content.
If you answered yes to any of these questions, it is probably time to start thinking about updating your website.
Should I update my website?
We hear it almost every time we speak with a new client – “Should I update my website?”
If you’ve been asking yourself that question, then the answer is probably yes. But that doesn’t mean a big financial investment! Many people think that means a complete rebuild, but usually, it’s just a matter of modernizing and updating what is already there.
Yes, your website works. People can find it, and it has important information. But does it perform in search engines? Is it mobile friendly? Is it reliable? Even if the answers to all of those questions are yes, it’s still worth looking at redesigning your site if it hasn’t been updated in more than a few years.
It’s less expensive than many assume to overhaul and update a site. We have updated many websites in the space of two days, for thousands less than the company owner thought it would be!
Visual Appeal
People are becoming more and more savvy when it comes to online interactions. Visitors can easily tell if a website is old. Having an outdated website design tells visitors that the company doesn’t keep up with the times, and reflects poorly on the brand.
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is central to virtually every company’s health and growth, and the company website is at the center of it all. In fact, every marketing a company makes leads to the website. If a site isn’t supporting marketing campaigns, those campaigns won’t perform as well as they could.
Security
Automated hackers can easily deposit code on older sites, even those from last year. Sometimes it’s not evident that your site has been hacked as they install unseen code that works for them unseen – masking for spam, false identities for fraud, your site can be utilized by criminals around the world if it is not secure. It’s critical to update your site regularly in order to foil these hackers and bots!
SEO
Search engines are constantly updating their algorithms to prioritize the best websites for internet users. A site that is top ranked today can plunge tomorrow, if it’s not updated to meet current standards. For instance – sites that are not fully mobile friendly and touch-screen ready are being flagged and dropped at an increasing rate.
Load Times
Code updates can increase the load time of older sites, which results in a poor user experience and will drop a website’s SEO rankings. It’s important to regularly update websites to keep up with code standards and ensure an optimal load time.