How to Know If Your Website is Outdated
Has your website been updated recently? The typical lifespan of a web design can range from 3 to 5 years. Anything longer and you want to consider evaluating your website. It’s very likely to need one if it’s been a long time since you’ve had it designed. After all, your website serves as the first touchpoint for the majority of your prospective customers. Therefore, you want it to set a good first impression.
1. Your Company’s Information Isn’t Accurate
Have you added new products and services? Is your “About Us” section full of outdated photos? Do you have the wrong staff listed? These are some sure-fire warning signs that your site might be outdated.
Having outdated information is one of the worst offenders of a poor website. After all, your website is what prospective customers will use to get accurate information about your business. Whether it’s the contact information or information about your products and services, it needs to be accurate. Not only do you want it accurate for your prospective customers, but also for SEO purposes. The search engines are going to reward you for having up-to-date information.
2. Broken Links and/or Missing Pages
You will typically find larger websites suffering from broken links a lot more than the smaller ones. The fact is, it does take a lot of hard work and due diligence to sort through your website to try to correct every link. That being said, if your site is littered with broken links or missing pages, it likely needs a full revision. Having a new website designed will help to ensure all of the missing pages are cleared and that you can re-establish an organized link structure.
3. Dated Images
It might be time to update your website if it shows a lot of product images that look dated. Likewise, if you don’t sell them anymore, you will need to update them. A lot of times you will have limitations with your photos. As technology continues to get better and better, you want to get better photos to display on your site. Having crystal clear images is one of the best ways to update and optimize your site to convert at a higher rate.
4. You Don’t Have A Clear Call-To-Action (CTA)
The general purpose of any website is to gain leads. You want to ensure your website is guiding the user to complete a specific desired action. Your website should be navigating users towards completing that nation and if you aren’t getting the kind of conversions you want, it could be a clear sign your site requires a revision.
5. Design Is Dated
Your website may look dated itself. Whether it’s the color scheme, the narrow page layout, or even having smaller photos. These are all warning signs that your website is dated itself. Because your website is a clear reflection of your business, you want to ensure that it is representing your business as it should. Whenever someone is searching for what you are offering and they frequent your website, you want to be certain you are creating a good first impression. Having a dated looking website is only going to reflect poorly on your business as a whole.
6. Your Site Isn’t Mobile-Friendly
Your website is likely in need of a full redesign and update if your website is hard to navigate on a mobile device. Both speed and design play an integral role in your site’s mobile-friendliness. If your website isn’t responsive and scaling properly to your favorite mobile devices, you are likely in need of a re-design. You want to ensure your site is loading as fast as possible on mobile devices for the best results.
7. Your Site Isn’t Secure
A user’s browser like Chrome will warn users who visit your website that it’s not secure if you don’t have HTTPS enabled. Because of this, you will need to enable it. If your site hasn’t been updated in recent times, it’s very likely in need of security updates and patches. That way, you can be certain your website isn’t infected and that your website, your data, and your customer’s data isn’t susceptible to hackers.
What To Do If You Need One?
If you’ve realized that your website requires an update, Emerging Business Systems can assist. Contact us right now and we can discuss all of your needs with you to ensure your business is positioned for success in today’s digital age.