5 Signs Your Website Needs An Update

Before we dive in, take a minute to ask yourself… Do you like your website? If you already know the answer is ‘no’, you can go right ahead and skip this blog post and jump straight to our contact page. We can take care of that for you!

If the answer’s not an immediate ‘no’ but you’re not exactly sure you do like your website, read on! We’ll be covering the 5 different things you can inspect on your site to help decide if it’s time for Extreme Makeover: Website Edition.

1. The Basics

It might seem obvious, but does your website include your correct contact information? Be sure to check your footer, about page, and any other spots you may have your contact information on your site and make sure your address, phone number, and email address are listed correctly. More importantly, make sure your contact information is even on your site! We’ve seen several websites where the email address or phone number can’t be found. Don’t make the same mistake!

2. Effectiveness

When it comes to how effective your site is, perhaps most importantly is whether or not your website is mobile-friendly. By the end of 2019, nearly 80% of internet usage is expected to be mobile (TechJury). User Experience (UX) is fundamental and everything needs to be seamless for your website visitors, no matter the device they’re on. If you’re not sure how your website performs across various devices, you can pull open your site using Google Chrome’s developer tools which gives you a drop-down of devices to choose from.

UX goes beyond just mobile-responsiveness though. How quickly (or not-so-quickly) does your website load? With the ability to access almost anything instantly, consumers expect websites to load quickly. A good rule of thumb is that it should take 5 seconds or less for your site to load. If you’re not sure about your load time, you can test it using Pingdom. If your results aren’t optimal, there can be a number of reasons why including unoptimized images or poor hosting services. Bottom line: You have work to do.

3. Design

Be honest, does your website look outdated? In 2019, branding is more than important than ever and your online presence is often the first interaction a client has with your company. If you focus on building your brand through email marketing or a kick-butt social media presence, it’s vital that your website makes a great first impression. Not sold on the design of your site? It might be time to look into modernizing its appeal. Haven’t changed your site’s design in a few years? It’s definitely time to update it.

4. Content

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Content is king. The design of your website might be responsible for first impressions, but good copy is what keeps people on your site—and what motivates them to purchase, sign up for your email list or any other number of desired actions. Great web designers (like the ones on our team!) recommend building your site around your copy and not the other way around. So, if you are redesigning your website, there’s no better time to update your copy.

5. SEO

Lacking in the content department? Your SEO might be suffering. Having a blog on your site is one of the most effective ways to drive more traffic to your site. That is, if you have an effective keyword strategy in place! Search engines also love fresh content so a weekly blog that’s done well is guaranteed to boost your site traffic.

With Google’s algorithm constantly changing, it’s important to stay on top of your SEO to consistently drive traffic to your site. There are more factors than just good content and maintaining your SEO (or implementing it in the first place) is no easy task. Thankfully, we’re here to help. In fact, we can help with all five of these topics!

Ready to update your website? Let’s talk.