8 Powerful Reasons To Update Your Website

When did you last update your website? Do you think about it? I think you do. We all do. We all get the itch from time to time, keeping it in the back of our heads: that awesome website you saw that made yours look like crap.

But the real question is: do you really need a new website? Is it time to upgrade? Maybe yes, maybe no. We always like to ask our old and new clients a few questions before even thinking about starting a redesign project:

1. Does it work on mobile?

Is your website responsive? Adaptive at least? No? Then yes, you need a new website. Did you know that 57% of website visitors wouldn’t recommend websites with poor mobile sites in 2014? How about the fact that mobile website marketing made companies $400billion in the US alone last year? Theres some food for thought.

2. Does it look modern and stylish?

If your website looks like Geocities in 1998, you might be due for an upgrade. Seriously though, companies are seeing great results with nice looking and up-to-trend websites and apps.

Fig 1. Your old website.

3. Is it aligned with your marketing efforts?

Companies & startups pivot and respond to market. This means your marketing efforts also adapt in alignment. If you’re website is not aligned with what, who and how you’re trying to sell, then by all means update it.

4. Is it easy to update?

Content marketing is the best way to get new customers, it’s the new SEO. Content marketing also means you need to update your website’s content frequently and effectively. Is your website backed by a nice CMS?

5. Have you updated your product or services?

When was the last time you looked at your product or service offerings on your site? It might have been a while. We all get busy on our day to day work and eventually forget that we are showing very old products or outdated services to potential customers.

6. Is your bounce rate favorable?

Are your visitors just leaving as soon as they landed on your site? If so, you might want to rethink your strategy.

Fig 2. Not the bounce rate we’re talking about.

7. Is it loading quick enough?

Your website’s loading time is a mayor factor in people either staying or leaving the site and never returning. Kissmetrics published a great infographic on the subject. We recommend you use a tool like YSlow and find out how long your site takes to load. If your score is not up to par, then you need to rethink your whole life website.

8. Does it express the company culture?

Company culture has a big impact on people hiring and joining your company. Does your website reflect who you are? What you stand for? What makes you different from your competition?

Conclusion

If you answered NO to at least half of the questions above, then you have a good starting point on pulling the trigger on that new website.

Originally published at ideaware.co on March 11, 2015.