Statistics overwhelmingly show that your website is very likely your customers’ first impression of your brand or store. Keeping your site up-to-date and relevant is definitely in your company’s best interest. An upgrade may mean a new site, but in some cases may be just mean fixing up what you already have.
Here are 7 signs that it might be time to make some changes to your website:
1. Security
Did you know that hackers are trying to hack your site at least 3 times every day? This is a VERY scary fact, but totally true. For this reason it is important to keep your website and its CMS up to date. We recommend a full upgrade every 3 years and a security check-up every 6 months for the average website. However for e-commerce websites you should evaluate your site on a monthly basis.
If your site gets hacked, it can become infected with viruses (which you are spreading to your customers) or blocked by search engines and browsers. Recovery from a hack attempt can sometimes take a lot of time and you will definitely lose trust from your clients and website visitors.
2. Get More Social
Properly integrate your social media activity with your website. If you think that means just slapping on a Twitter and Facebook feed, you’re wrong. You’ve got to be smarter than that, because your clients certainly are.
If your website isn’t social enough, you’re missing your best chance of attracting them. Good use of social media can help keep your website fresh, improve your SEO, get your potential and existing clients talking and give you fantastic opportunities to improve customer care.
Do we really need to say more? If you want to find out how to integrate social media into your website more effectively, contact us today.
TIP: choose your social media consultant wisely; most are amateurs dressed up. Look below the surface: Has anyone ever used them before? If so, are they happy to recommend that consultant? Can they show you measurable results?
3. Your website is out of Date
When a customer sees a website that looks out of date, he or she performs a simple calculation: If your site looks out of touch, your customers think it equates that your business is also out of touch.
TIP: Look at your website now and answer this question honestly: does it look up to date?
4. Look More Professional
Potential clients are looking for what you sell. They’re looking 24/7 every day of the year. If your website makes you look like a bunch of amateurs, clients will simply avoid you; but if you look professional online, they’re much more likely to buy from you.
TIP: maybe it’s time to get some professional photos taken and get a copywriter to rewrite the text on your website?
5. Your site is not capturing sales leads.
If you built your website to be an online brochure, it is unlikely that you have embedded the tools necessary to capture information from site visits. If you have done the work to get somebody to go to your website it only make sense to do all that you can to find out who is looking and what they want.
Online forms, Calls to Action, information-for-value offers, and other techniques can help you get your website visitor’s information that can help turn a site visit into a sale.
6. Google had changed its search algorithm.
The way Google (and also other search engines) look for and delivers information has been altered dramatically. All the search engine optimization (SEO) “tricks” that worked just a few months ago are no longer effective.
Unless your website is structured and written to comply with the new search “rules” nobody is going to be able to find you. Not on the first page of Google’s results. Perhaps not anywhere.
If properly constructed, an upgraded website will include such features as page title tags, meta descriptions, properly balanced keywords, and other searchable characteristics. If your website is more than three years old, it is definitely time to work on your SEO.
7. The purpose of your website has changed.
If your marketing strategy has changed, it may be time to change your website to match the new plan. For example, at the time that you built your website, your goal may have been to sell products. Now, your goal may be to increase repeat business. In order to keep your website relevant, you may want to change your website navigation and contents to match your goals.
Need some advice?
Contact us today for a free consultation.