Your website is often the first impression people have of your business. If your website appears dated or unattractive, isn’t generating leads, or is slow or hard to navigate, that reflects poorly on your capabilities and credibility. In this blog post, we’ll explore issues that indicate you need a new website to help you succeed in today’s competitive business environment.
Nine Signs You Need a New Website
If your website exhibits one or more of the following signs covered in this blog post, it may be time to consider building a new one. Let’s address each area and why they matter for your organization’s success and ultimately, the bottom line.
1. Slow Load Speed
The near-universal current expectation of fast-loading websites means that if your site takes longer than a few seconds to fully appear, visitors will navigate away and consider another product or service provider. Websites that take too long to resolve cause a loss of web traffic as Google takes note of user behavior and reduces rankings accordingly. There are many techniques to improve load speed via file compression and web caching for faster resolution. For those who have yet to address slow load speeds, they’ll lose out on web traffic and potential conversions until they do.
2. Not Mobile Responsive
According to Statista, mobile phones account now for almost 60% of global website traffic. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, Google now penalizes your site’s rankings due to that condition. Google seeks to deliver the best answers and experiences to user queries. A site that is not formatted for easy usability and readability on smartphones will cause users to seek answers elsewhere. Avoid poor rankings and slow lead flow with a website that is based on mobile-first design principles.
3. High Bounce Rate
Bounce rate indicates when a visitor lands on your website, then quickly leaves without navigating to any other pages. A high bounce rate shows that your site is not giving users the answers or experience they seek. Google responds to this by lowering your website’s rankings. Visitors bounce because of site design, slow load speed, lack of mobile responsiveness, realization that the website does not provide what they’re looking for and many other reasons. Ensuring that your branding, messaging and content are in tune with your target audience’s expectations is an important factor in reducing high bounce rates.
4. Poor User Experience
When a website delivers a positive user experience, this is demonstrated in more time spent on pages, greater engagement and higher conversion rates. When the reverse occurs, visitors bounce quickly and opt not to engage or convert. Factors that deliver a poor user experience include subpar navigation, bad design, low readability, slow page speeds, technical errors and more. Site visitors should be able to quickly find what they’re searching for without poor design, technical errors or clunky navigation impeding their experience.
5. Broken Links and Images
Images that don’t display, clicks that lead to 404 error pages and buttons that don’t link properly are frustrating examples of how websites deliver a poor user experience. If this lack of attention to detail is exhibited on your brand’s public identity, what does that mean for the quality of the products or services you offer? Site visitors are likely to give up and go elsewhere when they can’t navigate properly or notice such technical and design flaws. Regularly auditing a website for such mistakes is important.
6. Incompatible with Latest Technology
Website content management system platforms and software add-on developers routinely update their products to improve functionality, security and design capabilities for their users. These software platforms and plug-ins offer design customization and improve website performance and user experience. But if your website is stuck on an old builder or content management system that’s incompatible with today’s technology, you can’t improve or refine the site without “breaking” it.
7. Inability to Update Site Design or Content
If your website is so outdated that you cannot make content updates or changes to the site design without the website crashing or breaking, then this is also a sign that it’s time for a new website. Over time, you’ll undoubtedly need to make updates to information about your services, capabilities, company and more. Without the ability to do so, your website remains frozen in time. The design will become (or is already) outdated, and so will your market message. Your website should represent the best of what your company is today, with modern design elements to match.
8. Lead Generation is Lagging
A site that ranks poorly and isn’t search engine optimized won’t reach your target audience. But what happens with those that do find your website? Is their first impression of your company positive or negative? Leads are the lifeblood of any business. Without a steady stream of incoming leads from your website, your business will likely lose out to the competition. If your website is performing poorly and lead flow is stagnant, it’s well past time to examine why and determine the best solution.
9. Site Appearance Doesn’t Reflect Current Messaging
Besides looking dated, another issue business owners face when they can’t update their website is inaccurate messaging. Companies evolve – over time their products, services and target audiences change. If your website messaging is targeted to the wrong consumers or does not accurately encompass your current offerings, you’re missing out on business opportunities. In addition, Google evaluates the content on your website to determine rankings for certain keywords and popular search queries. Outdated messaging means Google may not be showing your site for the industry keywords you’re now targeting.
Consult with Web Design Experts Today
If your current website exhibits any combination of these signs, it’s well past time for a new one. A fast, well-designed, easy-to-navigate website that reflects your branding, is user-friendly and mobile-responsive and can be updated as needed is the solution. When you’re ready for a future-proof, fully optimized website to replace your existing site, schedule a free consultation with Bleevit web design experts to discuss your current situation and goals. Contact us today to get started.
WRITTEN BY
Rick Hogan, CEO & Co-Founder – Bleevit
Rick possesses over 20 years of digital marketing experience and started Bleevit with the primary mission of helping local businesses succeed online. When he is not working he can often be found hiking Great Falls, Virginia with his Labradoodle Lily, or sailing the Chesapeake Bay. If you have any comments or suggestions on how we can improve this post or otherwise want to give us a shout, send an email to hello@bleevit.com.
