How to Know it's Time for a New Website
There are several signs to indicate that a website needs to be updated. Outdated design and functionality are a classic sign because it’s easy to notice the pain and hassle of trying to navigate a site that wasn’t designed for modern browsing. The thing is, our detection system sometimes turns a blind eye when it comes to our own sites. Apply these three areas of inspection to your own site and see where yours stands.
publish date: April 19, 2017
There are several signs to indicate that a website needs to be updated. Outdated design and functionality are a classic sign because it’s easy to notice the pain and hassle of trying to navigate a site that wasn’t designed for modern browsing. The thing is, our detection system sometimes turns a blind eye when it comes to our own sites. Apply these three areas of inspection to your own site and see where yours stands.
Outdated
Like stated in the opening, outdated design is one of the easiest things to check for but sometimes is hard to identify in your own site. One of the biggest telltale signs that your design needs an update is if your site over explains what it is trying to convey to your audience.
Modern design has been moving more and more towards visually telling your story. Think about breaking up large chunks of text into “bite size” chunks that allow users to scan and easily find what they are looking for.
A website being outdated doesn’t only refer to its look and feel either. One sign of a website that needs a revamp is having an outdated content management system. The problem with having a faulty or older content management system is that sometimes support for security is stopped and your website could be at a higher risk for malicious attacks without you even knowing.
Lack of Functionality
Having your site work for you includes working for your customer as well. This is to say that having features on your site that actively contribute to your business goals is important. Enticing customers with helpful content, then capturing your visitors with online forms and registrations is vital for turning your website into an active asset to your company.
The other side of the coin is that your website needs to be helpful for your visitors as well. Along with providing helpful content through your website, you also need to focus on navigation. Having intuitive navigation helps visitors find that great content fast and easily. Check your website, do you have a website that offers value to your visitors and your company?
Fear of the Unknown
Can you easily run analytics on your existing site? Do you know what is working and what is not? When it comes down to it, you can have a great looking website but you will still be missing a key element if you don’t know how it performs. That’s because the key to a successful website is tracking how it performs and reinforcing what works.
With analytic systems like Google Analytics, you can track how individual pages are performing in your website so you can tweak that site to perform better and better.
There is no magic formula when it comes to creating a great site. Although there are factors that generally help with all websites, each business and their respective audiences require different strategies that work best for them. With the right website, you have the potential to have an asset that actively works for you 24/7. Take these steps to help determine if you should start looking for web providers that help you unlock the right solution for your specific needs.