12 signs it is time for a website refresh
Rachel Wing
September 18, 2021
We've all seen them the websites with horrible colors or old-fashioned fonts. The websites that are not mobile friendly. The websites with information that is no longer true. The websites where it is so hard to find what you were looking for... Or even those that simply don't work. For some reason it feels easier to spot these issues on other peoples' websites than your own. If you have a hunch that your website needs a refresh, then it probably does. Here are 12 signs that it is time for a website refresh:
1. Your site isn't mobile friendly
If your website doesn't look good on a phone or tablet, then you're making a poor impression on customers accessing your site via their phone... and by the way, that's most everybody these days.
2. The navigation flow is confusing
Make common workflows easy and pleasant. Let's turn as many leads as possible into sales!
3. Your services, products, or other content details have changed
How will you sell it if no one knows about it? Your business is rapidly evolving, it's important to make sure your website keeps up and is working for you, 24/7.
4. There's no way to contact you
So many people are coming to your website to find out where you're located or how to get in touch with you, let's make this easy for them. Often, the best and most engaged future customers will seek you out using your contact form.
5. The site has broken links
Broken links are frustrating for the user and lead to abandonment. Further, this is bad for SEO. If you don't pay enough attention to your website to notice that links are broken, what kind of care will you give to your products and services? Make sure the only impressions you're making are positive.
6. The pages load slowly
Similar to #5, this is important for creating a delightful user experience and for SEO. I'm sure we can all think of a time when we closed a slow loading website - don't let this happen to you!
7. The design is not cohesive
Put your best foot forward. If you've added new pages or products in a piecemeal fashion over time, it can start to be apparent. If your design is not cohesive, it's time to pull in the professionals.
8. The design no longer reflects your branding
Everything you put out to the public is a representation of your brand and should match with your brand identity.
9. The site looks old or unattractive
Believe it or not, there are trends in website development, just like fashion. Websites made in the 90s or early 2000s have an obviously different style to those created more recently. Out of date styles are a turn off and risk high bounce rate.
10. You have low or no rankings in search results
If you initially didn't build your site with SEO in mind, you can work with a professional (like us!) to improve your SEO or even start from scratch with a website entirely designed around SEO. Your website is free marketing, so if it isn't optimized for search, it should be.
11. Your customer conversion rate is low
We can use analytics to understand where attrition happens and help optimize workflows and keywords for higher conversion.
12. It has been 3 years or more since you've updated your website
It's good practice to update your website every few months or at least every few years with new products, services, hours, team members, photos, etc. If you aren't sure what to update, we're happy to help with a website audit to get you started.