A website is the most essential marketing tool for any business. If it’s not working hard for you, then what good is it? An outdated website design can affect your search rankings and put customers off, which is certainly not your goal. Just like an employee, it’s important to keep your website working hard for your business! We recommend having a new design created every 3-4 years or so. In this blog post, we will discuss four reasons why a new site design could be just what you need to stay on top of the game!
Your Website Looks Outdated
The first reason why it’s time for a new design is that technological advancements are constantly happening! New features like HTML, CSS and JavaScript, as well as page builders like WordPress, allow developers to create websites with more interactive functionality than ever before. This means they can help businesses stay competitive with other companies out there. While investing in these tools might seem risky at times, the best way to keep up with what customers want (and how businesses operate) is by staying ahead of trends. An outdated website design can hurt your search rankings and turn away customers, which is definitely not your goal. It’s vital to keep your website working hard for you by having a new site created every few years or so. If your website was designed more than three years ago, it might be time to give it a refresh. If you have an outdated design with pixelated graphics or bright colours that clash, visitors will get turned off and click away from your site. Make sure your design looks professional but is also modern and up to date with current trends.
Your Website is Not Mobile Friendly
Having a mobile-friendly or responsive website design is so essential today. More and more people are browsing the web on their phones, so your website must be easy to use, regardless of the device someone uses. People visit websites most often on their mobiles nowadays. A responsive website will allow people to use any type of device to access information without difficulty navigating different layouts. It makes sense to make things easier on our potential customers rather than leave them scratching their heads when they can’t navigate your site. A good user experience is key when designing a webpage; otherwise, you risk losing the customer. A website may look great when viewed on a laptop or PC screen but appear distorted and unreadable when viewed on the small screens of smartphones and tablets. This can lead to visitors leaving with frustration rather than completing their purchase—and this means more lost revenue for you!
Your Site Loads Slowly
No one wants to wait forever before getting access to all of the information they want from your webpage. A slow loading time means visitors may leave without finding anything they were looking for. There could be several reasons why the load time of your site is lagging. It could be anything from server load time to image size to the number of redirects you have.
One of the best ways to speed up your site load is by reducing image size, which can help improve page loading time drastically. When deciding what images you need for a post or page, always try and use low-resolution versions first. Always check that there’s no loss of quality when scaling down an image before uploading it!
Navigation is Difficult
Can your website visitors quickly find what they’re looking for? Either they found you through a search, or they know who you are and want your information. It is critical to make it easy for visitors to find what they’re looking for. If the website visitor has to click more than three times to find relevant content, they may lose interest and leave your website. Navigation can make or break the performance of your website, especially when it comes to retaining visitors, keeping them engaged and driving them to take action. A website with clear navigation will take the customer from one point to another in an efficient manner.
A cluttered page is not only bad for your potential client, but it can also have adverse effects on SEO rankings. This means that if you are trying to rank high on search engines like Google and Bing, cluttering up your pages with too much information could be hurting your chances of getting noticed by either someone searching or ranking algorithms.
Keep your online business competitive by having more traffic come through your website. The best way to do this? Make sure it is regularly updated and has a refresh every few years! Your competitors constantly change their sites and make them better; don’t fall behind or risk becoming obsolete. If you want to stay ahead of the competition and keep customers coming back for more, don’t wait until it’s too late- speak to the team here at Mindsite Web Services to get your project up and running.