5 Reasons Why Your Website is So Last Year

Falling behind the times? It’s not a difficult slip in the 21st Century. But when you hear, “your website is so last year,” they’ve really gone too far.

Now what? Just when you thought you’d leapt to keep up, your website falls back behind. Despite the popularity of some website features, there are things that could curse your pages in the long term. It may look great, but does it convert?

Attention: This isn’t our expert opinion — it’s science!

Through trial and error, many online companies have discovered the link between web design and conversions. Based on digital marketing trends for 2015, there are a few things you need to look out for with web design in 2016.

It’s Not Responsive.

Your website is not responding — and no, you didn’t kill it. In fact, you probably did nothing at all to cause such a travesty. But that’s exactly the problem. Your website doesn’t respond to mobile devices with varying screen sizes. In this case, you may have noticed that your relationship with Google has gone south since April 2015 (because that’s when the algorithm was updated).

Google is upset that you left your website in the dark when it comes to responsive web design.

In fact, your website may have been cast aside in exchange for more “search worthy” competitors following Mobilegeddon. Get a responsive web design to gain back the points you lost with Google.

The Pages Scroll to Infinity and Beyond.

Infinite scrolling is tricky. This makes the search engine crawlers stop early on pages. It’s not the best thing for your SEO strategy. When Google stops short (on page one) while crawling your site, you may lose necessary text and content that helps you rank.

Just because Inc 5000 Magazine does it, doesn’t mean you should do it.

Sure, it may be great for engagement and retaining visitors, but it can also anger them. Infinite scroll eats memory and raises CPU usage (which leads to frustration for the user).

Do they really want to read the next article? Oftentimes not. In fact, they might honestly be happier with more articles to choose from at the end, instead of being forced upon the one.

Not to mention, it will be difficult to specify a segment on the page unless you create links and a location for the pages to be indexed. This hits your SEO hard if you rely on these pages to rank.

You’re Still Waiting for it to Load.

The greater the load time, the more chance for abandonment. According to Forrester Consulting, “47 percent of consumers expect a web page to load in two seconds or less.” What happens if your website is slow to load? People start to turn back or Google penalizes you for lacking user experience that meets today’s standards.

Does Google hate your website because of poor UX?

There are a few things you can do to solve this problem. Get rid of bulky plugins and features. Adopt a standard size with your photos (instead of as large as possible) — and don’t go over this number! Upgrade your web hosting services to handle more data. Clean up your theme and simplify styles. Check for malware. That should do it.

You Cursed it with a Carousel of Pictures.

You like your slider, we get this. But did you know the very thing you put it there for is also the thing that makes it such an ineffective feature?

“Huh,” did you say?

Apparently your carousel of pictures immediately captures the eye’s attention, yet the motion actually deters meaningful conversion. It’s a distraction. Instead of thinking, “how can I wow them with something flashy,” think, “what will make them click through to the next step”.

Outline your “user flow”. Where on the page do you wish your visitors to go? A carousel will flash with information, but does not present the preferred path of navigation. Conversions drop as a final result, which is why sliders are hard to find online these days.

Curse the Carousel! Try embedding a video (like Hilton or Airbnb) to suffice for movement on the page.

You’ve Lost the Path to Purchase.

The times have changed. UX and site navigation are certainly hot topics this year. You don’t want hamburgers on your desktop, and dropdowns that don’t work on mobile phones. This makes you look like an amateur in this 15th year of the 21st Century.

Location, Location, Location.

Hone in on your website navigation. Have you mapped the clear path to purchase? The rule is three clicks. The “three-click-rule” defines that your visitor should be able to find what they’re looking for in under three clicks. This changes everything. Now, take a look at your top website pages and ask, “are these accessible under three clicks?” Then ask, “which pages are not, and which should be”?

This will help others find what they’re looking for in less time.

Bottom Line: Get Your Website Ready for 2016

It’s hard to say what will trend in 2016. But, if digital marketing trends for 2015 are any indication, UX and video content still dominate web design at center stage. Clarify your designs with a simple sophisticated style, and you might just experience a boost in conversions. It pays to develop above the curve.

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