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10 Signs Your Business Needs a New Website

Posted at May 17, 2019 10:27:00 AM by thatagency | Share


I Need a Website Redesign | Corporate Website Redesign | THAT Agency

1. It doesn't work on all devices.

This one's obvious, but you'd be surprised at how many businesses miss it or de-prioritize it. Your website needs to work flawlessly on a variety of platforms across a broad range of devices. Mobile visits are beginning to surpass desktop ones, and many customers will visit on multiple devices. If they see that your website doesn't present well on one device, that can make them question your quality and reliability across the board.

2. The site takes ages to load.

Many issues with websites arise from those sites having old design. This one can often arise from sites being too new, complex, and untested. Your intro animation or video may look incredible. The number of elements that you squeezed onto your website is something to marvel at. Yet nobody sees it because your website takes 20 seconds to load.

Customers and clients expect responsiveness. If they're parsing through Google searches or shopping various businesses, and yours is the one whose page takes too long to load, they'll go back and simply select the next option. That competitor may not have as fancy a landing page, but it loads in three seconds.

3. You rely on large bodies of text.

There are places for more information. Content creation such as blogs and informational pieces can dive deep into a topic. Your landing pages should be concise and hammer brief messages home quickly. If the first thing a visitor sees on clicking through to your page is a large body of text, they may look at everything but that. Conveying information on landing pages must rely on a combination of visual, design, and textual information conveyed in bite-sized chunks.

4. Your categories are a mess.

You have 20 different options that someone can click through to. Some aren't clear. Others are named in clever ways that old customers appreciate, but that are completely obtuse to a new visitor. Two options are more or less the same, and there's no reason they should be separated as they are. This kind of mess often represents just how much your business has evolved and grown, and how many phases it's gone through. However, it can limit your accessibility.

You want visitors committing to exploring your site quickly, and that means cutting down the number of options so that their decision-making is efficient. You can still present more information later. You have to start by allowing them to dive deeper in a streamlined way, instead of being overwhelmed by a broad array of options from the start.

5. Your analytics have betrayed you.

Analytics are supposed to tell you how well you're doing! They're supposed to present avenues where you can capitalize on a strength. All they do is tell you that your site isn't converting many people and that visitors don't stay long. It's not time to hit the panic button, but it is time for a corporate website redesign. If your house's paint is chipping and your lawn is dirt where nothing grows, it doesn't mean that the house itself isn't sturdy, comfortable, and reliable. It does mean that you have to do some work to change its presentation and how people perceive it when first coming onto the property.

6. It lacks content management.

Content is everything today. A static website can't keep up with that of a competitor who regularly updates and features exciting, interesting, and engaging content. If you lack content management or it's difficult and frustrating to make the updates you need, something's wrong. There are very efficient content management tools that make updating and sharing across a wide range of social media sites very easy. Some businesses schedule regular content weeks in advance – why aren't you?

7. It doesn't feature social media tie-ins.

This intersects with the last point, and also stands as its own. Social media should be integrated with every page of your website. It shouldn't take the site over, but it should be a visible option throughout your site. The most effective marketing you'll ever receive is the free kind that fans share on social media. You still have to do the work to get it there by featuring interesting, challenging content. Yet if you lack easy, natural-feeling ways for customers to share your site, content, products, and services, then you close yourself off to that crucial element.

8. You still use Flash. A lot.

Flash sites may have been cutting edge when you walked uphill to school both ways in the snow. Yet just like that expression, their time has passed. They load slowly. They're a disaster on mobile devices. They're terrible for SEO practices. Hackers have abused fake Flash updates to the point where nobody trusts it anymore. To see just how unusable and inefficient Flash is, consider Adobe. That's the company that makes Flash. They don't even use it on their own website. The place where you go to download Flash refuses to use Flash. You should, too.

9. You need more functionality.

If your website no longer serves your business's functionality, that's a great thing! Congratulations! Look how much you've grown. Look how much more you do today than you once did. Look at the tools you're in position to take advantage of today that you never even dreamed of yesterday. It all still means you have to make the necessary redesigns to utilize those tools and accommodate your users. Your website should make your work easier, not harder. Its capabilities and infrastructure need to serve you as much as possible.

10. The site lack calls to action.

Just as marketing evolves, so do customers' abilities to resist it. This is driven by an incredible number of factors. One of the biggest is just how much marketing there is out there today, how pervasive it is. Just to stay sane, people need a high degree of resistance to marketing. That's why websites must use effective calls to action in their wording and linking. Forget, “Want to learn more?” and similar questions. Tell them to “Find out more.” “Get a quote.” “Learn the options.”

A clearer call to action – the more specific the better – must be the language featured in any corporate website redesign today.

Any of the points made here legitimizes the suspicion that you need a redesign. Some you might be able to live with for a time, but if you see more than one problem that your site suffers, you need to start changing that. If you're already thinking, “I need a website redesign,” then it's time to assess why you suspect that. Wait too long, and your business will risk damage. These are issues to get ahead of in a proactive way.


Tags: Web Design
