Websites have become more than an online brochure. They are now the hub for everything—your virtual model, online design center, and sales center. Websites are doing more than their fair share of work these days and have become a critical part of every business. If you are thinking about redesigning your website, you are not alone. The shelf life of a website design is usually 1-3 years and then it’s time to freshen things up. Technology changes constantly and consumer demands and expectations change right along with it. A website can quickly become outdated. Just think about what messaging looked like early in 2019 verses where it is today—accommodating in person and virtual, addressing scarcity and high demand.
We’re going to cover the top 3 things that indicate it’s time to freshen up your website. The good news is that thinking about it and planning for it now will help you make good use of remaining marketing dollars and help prepare for the spring selling season.
Time
We’ve already talked about the time frame, but why does a website need a facelift so quickly? This is one time it makes sense to keep up with the Joneses. A website can look old and tired after just a few years and when buyers compare your website to competitors, the style can look out-of-touch, like the fashion from 3 years ago. Unfortunately, vintage doesn’t work when it comes to technology. Another biggie is that Google updates their algorithm frequently and awards change, so having an outdated website can hurt your ranking in search engines.
Your Website Isn’t Mobile First
Again, back to Google, rankings are now only determined based on your mobile site. It’s time to do what we call the “fat finger test” and see how your website stacks up on mobile. All of your primary pages and actions should be configured for mobile. It should be easy to scroll down on pages, images should be sized properly on mobile, and all text should be readable. You also need to make sure that phone numbers have click-to-call and driving directions are easily accessible since those are the actions that home shoppers perform most frequently on mobile. Once you’ve performed a test yourself, have a few people outside of your company do the test as well. And when in doubt, call a professional.
Speed
There is nothing more frustrating than a slow site to home shoppers. If your bounce rates are high, site speed could be to blame. Fortunately there are a multitude of free site speed checkers out there. We like the site, GTmetrix. A quick look will give you an idea of how you rank.
We covered heat mapping last week—one of our most popular articles YTD. You can read it here if you missed it. Email us or visit us at theBDX.com for more information.
