Research suggests that 76% of people will judge the quality of your brand based solely on their experience of your website. If you are relying on it to bring in new business, it is smart to ensure that it is the best it can be. After all, the website is representing your business and is the first point of contact for many potential customers.
It’s important to recognise that in the online world, nothing lasts forever. Design features get old quickly. Therefore, clinging to an old website because it worked in the past isn’t a good strategy.
1. Mobile users aren’t engaging with the website
Nowadays, almost half of your total visitors are accessing your website from a tablet or smartphone, and you just can’t afford to ignore them. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly or mobile responsive.
2. Traffic to your site is slowly falling
When it comes to the traffic, definitive keywords ranks and conversions of a particular website, things generally move quite slowly. You’re not necessarily going to see the big picture of where the website is failing by comparing the numbers of successive months.
But if you’re seeing things generally slowing down over 6 or more months after being successful for a significant amount of time, it might be a sign that your website is simply out-of-date design wise.
3. Your website is out dated
In the past, it was cool to use smaller text and images with a narrow design, where each page would fit, in its entirety, on screen. The idea was that website users weren’t into scrolling, so having all the information in a single frame was more convenient.
This design style went out for a reason; it made it very difficult for users to skim pages and get information quickly. Those using smartphones would have needed to zoom in to access information and then zoom out again to navigate through the pages; this can be a frustrating experience.
4. Your service has changed
A large proportion of website redesigns take place simply because the business has outgrown the website. It may be because of a dramatic change in the direction of the brand, a decision to extend the marketing budget or recognition that a new website can do things that simplify day-to-day processes.
However, this is something that not all businesses will realise straight away, recognising that the website as something to work on when things are running smoothly. The fact is that your website is not only representing your business but – if managed well – can be the biggest seller and marketer of your brand.
5. Your website loads very slow
Your website should load considerably faster, this can only be done when your website is enabled not to download much information while loading. If a website is required to download buckets of images, scripts and information, it will take ages to load, to the dismay and disappointment of the users.
It’s important to make sure that your website is optimised to load within five seconds as after that time period users become disinterested and leave the site.