So you have a website – welcome to the Internet! But how happy are you with it, really?
Your customers’ habits are evolving quickly and new technologies take the Internet by storm. Your bare presence online is the first step but keeping up with the new is just as important. With billions of sites on the web, how do you make sure you stand out and, most of all, reach the right people?
1. Your website is not responsive
While this list is not organised in terms of importance, your website not being responsive is quite a major reason for you to start thinking about a new one. A responsive web design should ensure your website renders correctly across different devices and that a memorable user experience is translated to every screen, whether it is a desktop PC, laptop, tablet or a mobile phone.
What’s most important, according to recent data, mobile usage is quickly surpassing desktop usage as the way of surfing the web with now over 60% of users doing it from their smartphones. Now more than ever, you can’t afford steering your customers away only because on an unresponsive website. Can you?
2. Loading takes forever
According to this research, 47% of consumers expect a page to load in 2 seconds or less. It’s also worth noting that 40% of consumers will decide to abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load. The solution is obvious – in order to keep your visitors on the site, you have to make sure it loads instantly. If your website takes ages to appear on screen, it’s high time for you to think about a new one.
If your site is too slow, let’s be honest – you’re missing out big time. You’re most probably losing potential customers and harming the Google algorithm result. And we all know Google is king.
3. Your bounce rate is sky high
First things first, what the heck is bounce rate and why should you care about it? According to Google, a bounce is a single-page session on your site. Is it a bad thing? Well, if the success of your site depends on users viewing more than one page, then, yes, a high bounce rate is bad.
There are numerous reasons for your bounce rate being high, such as confusing user experience, unreadable content, unattractive design or faulty functionality. Lucky for you, a fresh redesign of your website can help with all that.
4. It doesn’t align with your branding
Have you recently gone through rebranding and your current website doesn’t showcase it? That’s a no-brainer, really. You need a new one.
For most businesses these days, digital is a primary way of communication. If your website doesn’t match with your brand you might be sending a confusing message to your potential customers and well, that’s never good.
5. It just doesn’t look good
The most important thing: are you happy with your website? Are you proud of it? Do you think it gives a correct impression of your business? No? Then there’s no running away from it – you do need a new one.
It comes as no surprise, but according to Adobe, 66% of consumers would prefer to view something beautifully designed vs. simple and plain. Even more so, the research suggests that as many as 68% of viewers choose overall good design such as appealing layout and photography as one of top three factors of content viewing experience.
6. The navigation and site map are confusing
We call it bad User Experience (UX) and we see it a lot: over-complicated site navigation, hidden and inaccessible content, lack of call to actions or clear section hierarchy. If all this sounds familiar, there’s no time to waste and you should be thinking about a redesign right away. Upgrading your website to its more intuitive self with a seamless flow of information will bring you profit in no time.
7. You can’t update your own content
We can’t imagine anything more excruciating than that – not being able to make updates to your website without emptying your wallet to pay an IT guy is just not right. Even if only to avoid this frustration, it’s worth considering a new website with a proper content management system behind it.
8. You’re behind your industry
Maintaining your brand image on every channel can go a long way to helping you stay ahead of the competition. When it comes to your website, keeping it up to date and in live with recent trends will definitely help you stay ahead of the game.
9. You’re not ranking well in Google
You must have heard by now about the mysterious SEO. As Google explains, Search Engine Optimisation is often about making small modifications to parts of your website. When viewed individually, these changes might seem like incremental improvements, but when combined with other optimisations, they could have a noticeable impact on your site’s user experience and performance in organic search results.
The truth is, a lot of the points covered above will affect how your site ranks in Google.
10. You just feel it in your gut
Most importantly, you have to trust your gut. If you have this nagging feeling that your website needs a refresh, it most probably does.
