If the title of this article made you click it then odds are you are already considering a new website you might just not have decided fully yet. We believe that whether you need an update to your current site, a redesigned site or a brand-new website depends on two main factors.
- Your website should be easy to maintain and update
- Your website should be working harder than you are to find new clients and customers
We totally understand that it is hard to justify the time, energy and effort it takes to bring a new website online based on a gut feeling that you might need a new website but we definitely want to assist you in making an informed decision.
But what signs should you keep an eye out for?
1. You need to contact someone else to make changes or updates to your website
If you can’t make simple edits or updates to your website without external help it is definitely time to get a new website. If you have a blog on your site, you should be able to update this and change it yourself. If you have sections that regularly change or update you need to be able to do this yourself and have a website that is easy to navigate on the front end for customers but also for yourself on the backend.
At WYD Digital, we spend a lot of time getting to know your business needs and designing both the backend and frontend of the website to be easy to operate and to have a logical workflow for you. We are always here to help you but we want to empower you to take control of your own website and be able to update it regularly if that is what is best for your business needs.
2. You have outgrown your existing design
Has your business been able to grow and adapt since your last website? Have you changed brand colours, logo or business values? These are all signs that it is time to change your website and update it.
Your website is what communicates who you are and what you stand for to potential customers and clients so you need to make sure it is relevant. You wouldn’t let someone else steal your branding so don’t let your old branding steal customers from your updated designs.
3. Your website isn’t converting
Conversions are usually the main aim of any website. What a conversion means is different for each website and each business. It might be to gain a new contact, get a lead or make a sale. However, if your conversions are slowing down or your website is no longer converting it is definitely time to consider getting a highly engaging website with clear call to actions for your target audience.
4. Your bounce rate is too high
A bounce rate you say? You know when you are scrolling through Google and you click on a site, look at it for a second or two then decide it’s not for you and return back to the search results? This is what your bounce rate measures. It shows you how many people bounce away from your site without interacting with it. If your bounce rate is high you are going to need a fresh look and feel to your website as it is not converting anymore.
Over time consumer preferences change and web design evolves so even sites that were once highly engaging and converted well will eventually become outdated and have a high bounce rate.
5. Your website isn’t responsive
What does a responsive website mean? Well, it means it is optimised for mobile devices. In plain English, this simply means that when you view your website on different sized screens it changes and is easy to use no matter what your device is. This is a key attribute that your website needs today as Google has now started ranking websites based on their mobile versions due to the majority of web content now being consumed on mobile devices.
If you do not have a responsive website or it has not been properly optimised for mobile then you are definitely going to be pushed down the search results by Google in favour of other websites.
6. Your website is too slow
In late 2020, Google announced it was making a big change to its algorithm to align itself with consumer page experiences and search results. What does this mean? In some over simplified terms it means that your page speed now matters more than ever! It has always been important but now Google is taking more notice of this. If you weren’t aware already, people don’t like to wait and some statistics show that Pages that load within two seconds have an average bounce rate of 9%, while pages that take five seconds to load have a bounce rate of 38%. But let’s not get focused just on speed alone. Your website speed is super important but so are lots of other things so if you notice your website is slowing down or if it feels slow when you visit it you need to think about a refresh to your site or maybe it just needs some maintenance and cleaning out.
Lots of things can impact your speed but one of the most common impacts is slow hosting. That is why WYD Digital chooses to use a premium, WordPress hosting service for all of our sites. Our go to choice is kinsta. They provide premium support, lots of guarantees and utilise the same servers that Google uses for super-fast hosting. We have never had an issue with them since we moved all of our websites to their services.
7. It’s been over 5 years since your last refresh or update
Time is the enemy of web design. If you had the greatest website 5 years ago it is probably almost certain that you should start afresh. Consumer preferences change over time and so do web design trends. Customers are always looking for websites they resonate with and there is nothing worse than coming across an outdated and poorly designed website when you are trying to seek out an answer or a business to help you out.
We know that it can be hard to justify a new website sometimes but a website is an extension of your business. We like to think about your website like your shopfront that is open 24/7 for people to meet you and get to know you. Do you really want a shopfront that isn’t attractive and turns customers away?
If you would like a free website analysis for your current site to see what opportunities and improvement can be made then please contact us today.