Websites are a must for every business – no matter what your industry, whether you are big or small, if you don’t have one, you are living in the dark ages. You may have taken the plunge and had a website built a few years ago or even back when the internet was born – you saw it go live and haven’t touched it since. It is time to give it some love.
Websites are no different to any other piece of technology. They are constantly changing. Websites can do so much more than two years ago, coding has improved in leaps and bounds, you have a plethora of plugins, widgets and platforms to choose from and websites now seamlessly integrate with social media and email marketing programs, not to mention changes in design trends.
A user will decide in 10 secs if they will stay on your site, so first impressions are crucial. The internet is widely used for research before purchasing and if there are two sites and one looks modern, clean and easy to navigate with fresh content vs an outdated site that takes forever to load – who do you think will get the sale?
Our top reasons why you need to update your website if it is more than two years old:
1. The design looks dated – just as fashion is constantly changing, web and design trends are too – full width layout, high quality big images, bold text, hidden menus and simplicity in design. Your website is a reflection of your business and is part of your branding. By refreshing the design you will appear more professional and the leader in your field.
2. Your website is not taking advantage of the new technology and features to provide a better user experience
3. If your website is not a CMS site, that is you can’t manage your own content and you still need to ring your programmer every time you need to make a change or update something, you are wasting your money.
4. If your website is not responsive you may be losing customers. Responsive means your website functions and looks good on all devices with different screen sizes – including desktop computer monitor, laptop, tablet and smart phone.
5. Having an old site will affect your ranking in a Google search. Google have stated that after April 21, 2015 they will penalise sites that do not have ‘mobile compatibility’ and users searching on mobile devices will no longer see these sites. Google have also said that they will award a boost in rankings to sites that do support mobile.
6. An old site may not function properly on the latest web browsers, for example, if you’re using flash animations or slideshows they are now obsolete and unsupported by most browsers.
7. Your business is likely to have changed direction over the past couple of years. You may have new products, services and changed focus, you may have identified new customers and the current website will not accommodate the changes you require, or it will cost just as much to make the changes as it will create a new site.
8. A customer database is the number one item on your marketing ‘must do’ list. If you are not capturing email addresses from new and potential customers on your website and saving them to a database, you are missing out on new leads and growing your business. A well maintained and current customer database can increase the value of your business.
9. As a customer may not land on your home page, you need to ensure important information and your call to action is on every page. Your aim is to have as many links to your site as possible and the viewer lands on the most relevant page.
10. Your website may not be doing what you want it to do. Be clear on the purpose of your website – do you want a viewer to browse and call you, do you want them to purchase something, or do you want to collect their email address for future marketing.
Websites are not a set and forget. You need to keep the design current and modern, keep it updated with fresh content and take advantage of the latest web trends. At New Wave Designs we offer website design and development and can build you a new site or revamp your old site. Call us on 1300 885 091 or email info@newwavedesign.com.au.
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