Websites are the marketing powerhouse for small businesses. Regardless of what kind of business you have, it’s critical to have website. If it’s been more than a few years since your last major website overhaul, it may be time to readdress your website to make sure you’re getting the most out of it. Is it time to redesign your website? There are a few key telltale signs that will let you know.
Your website isn’t responsive
A few years ago (2015), Google put out this statement, “Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.” Google wants to provide a great experience for their users, which is why they started forcing the hand of website owners to make the change. This means you should invest in a responsive website if you don’t currently have one. There are several other reasons to have a responsive site besides playing well with Google. Duo gave a great list:
- Mobile usage is growing rapidly
- Social activities and blogging bring in mobile visitors
- Visitors bounce off non-responsive sites
- Responsive design is for more than just phones
- You want users to have a great experience on your site
If your site isn’t responsive, you need to redesign it as soon as possible.
Your site is difficult to navigate
According to Statisticbrain.com, eight seconds is the average person’s attention span and only 28 percent of words are read on an average web page. If it’s difficult to easily and quickly find content on your site, the visitor will likely bounce off the site. Search rankings, bounce rate, conversions and user satisfaction are all impacted by poor site navigation. When visiting your website for the first time, users should be able to easily find specific content they’re looking for. Not only will they bounce off your site, they likely won’t engage with your business. Good site navigation includes top menus, sidebars or the “hamburger” menu; three lines stacked on top of each other, which is typically used on mobile sites. Crazy Egg wrote a great article on updated, effective website navigation options with helpful examples.
Your site doesn’t match your brand
If your website doesn’t match your brand, you need to update it. Every element on your website must reflect your business’s brand, including logo, fonts, colors and voice. If not, visitors won’t remember your business and what it offers. Giving your website a complete makeover with a new brand-focused design is essential to creating a unique identity for your business. As visitors encounter your website, they’ll see brand elements, which they’ll associate with your business.
Your website doesn’t perform well technically
Do you have a website that doesn’t load quickly, no matter how much you try to optimize it? If you think it’s a painful experience for you, just think about visitors on your site. How about broken links, dead pages, or blurry images? Maybe you have an outdated theme that doesn’t play well with more updated plugins or you have outdated tools that just don’t work. If your website has become a patchwork of quick fixes, it’s time to start a site redesign.
Your website doesn’t take the customer’s journey into account
Every visitor on your site is in a different part of their buying cycle or customer journey. Does your site accommodate all those stages of buyers, or is it a one-size-fits-all? A well-thought-out user journey takes into account your buyer’s journey and will keep them moving through your sales funnel.
If your current website has one or more of these issues, it’s time to redesign your website. The process can be a difficult one, so to ensure that the time, energy and expense of redesigning your website is well-spent. Work with a small business marketing professional who can help you with aligning your branding, understanding your target audience and the buyer’s journey, and assist with overall site content evaluation to make sure you get the most out of your new site.
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