In the modern business world, your website is one of the most important marketing tools you have. Fast overtaking the business card or classified ad as a method of promotion, your website should be raising your brand profile and driving more sales. In fact, for many businesses, their website is not just their main marketing tool but also their main sales platform.
It’s all too easy as a business owner to let your webmaster tasks slip down the to-do list, and often it is only a fresh pair of eyes that will notice what you need to improve to stay looking fresh. To identify whether your website needs a redesign, here are some of the major tell-tale signs.
1. It doesn’t work on mobile
With more users now accessing the internet via mobile than via desktop, mobile should be the number one priority. Pretty much all websites are designed on a computer rather than on mobile, so they tend to be optimised for desktop rather than for more portable devices.
Another common problem is that many websites were created before the smartphone revolution began, so their current designs were made with mobile far away from the designer’s priority list. Ask colleagues or friends with different types of mobile devices to let you check out your site on each of them. Once you have a list of your mobile site’s deficiencies, you will be in a much stronger position to know what needs to change.
2. It has old-fashioned features
Like all designed objects, website features go in and out of fashion. The hit counter is one example of a website feature that has plunged out of vogue almost overnight. Those tickers that monitored how many people visited your site and displayed the total publicly were once considered highly innovative, but now they just look tacky.
Keeping an eye on your website’s performance, of course, is a good idea as it allows you to see which groups of buyers are visiting and which pages are responsible for closing or losing you each sale. If you haven’t already, ask your designer to install Google Analytics or a similar software the next time your site gets relaunched.
3. It isn’t plugged into your social media accounts
It’s believed there are almost two billion monthly active users on Facebook alone. Social media is one of the digital marketing linchpins of our time, and there is no reason for your business not to be taking full advantage of the huge customer pools and targeted data options that the world of social can offer.
For that reason, your social media accounts should be integrated fully into your website. Consider installing widgets that show how many likes or followers you have, and make sure that a call to action such as “Like us!” or “Follow us!” is prominently displayed. Not only will this allow you to harness the power of social for your business, but it will also give your website a modern veneer and demonstrate that your business is happy to be open and customer-facing.
4. You don’t have the skills to transform it
Website redesigns are not easy, and once planning, design and implementation are taken into consideration, they can easily consume a lot of staff time. If you do not have the resources to embark on the project, consider hiring a web design agency or a specialist contractor.
While a web design agency can offer you the services that you need, hiring a contractor gives you the opportunity to oversee and interact with the project in person. When taking this option, consider working with an umbrella company to make the HR process easy and simple. They will serve as an intermediary through which you can manage any issues with contractor pay, contracts and invoices and get help with IR35 legislation.
5. It doesn’t tell a story
Once upon a time, it was acceptable for a website to simply be a mishmash of dry, factual information about the product or service on offer. However, times have changed, and now you need to use your site to tell an engaging and interesting human tale.
Consider using your site to give out interesting snippets, such as the story of the company’s founding. If you go down the history route, you could even use your site’s navigation system to your advantage and develop a submenu with several story pages organised into chronological order.
Your website is one of your most valuable marketing assets, and it should never be neglected or left to look old-fashioned. Carry out a full audit of your site today and start the journey towards a crisp, new online presence.
