My Website Sucks. Should I Change It Now Or Later? Part 1
My Website Sucks. Should I Change It Now Or Later? Part 1
You’ve heard the old adage… You have 10 seconds to make a good first impression. Well your website has about 6 seconds to convince your visitor that they found what they’ve been searching for. If not, they go back to Google to find someone else.
So keeping your website up-to-date, current and addressing the needs of your ideal prospects is no longer a “nice to have.” It’s a matter of survival.
If it’s been a while since you’ve updated your website, it might be a good idea to consider updating your website copy and visual design, adding new content or completely overhauling it with a major redesign.
Does your website need a refresh? Keep reading to find out!
So What’s a Refresh?
A business changes as it grows. The same is true with your website. As you create your website, make sure it reflects the business it represents.
Your website’s design will become outdated over time, that’s just how it goes. What was popular 2 or 3 years ago, can feel painfully outdated now (remember keyword clouds?) So refreshing the design is necessary to remain competitive.
Does Your Website Need a Refresh?
If your website has been up for a while, it may be a challenge to know when it’s time to update it. But here are some signs it’s time.
- The design of your site is not appealing anymore
- Conversions are low
- Nothing is interesting or exciting on your website
- It’s ineffective at communicating your message to visitors
- Leads aren’t coming in like they did before
- Bounce rates are high
Recognize any of these? If so it may be time to make some minor updates or revamp your entire website. It just depends on your situation.
Here are 7 ways you can refresh your website
- The Basics
Let’s start with the basics. The look and feel of your website can be dramatically updated simply by choosing a more modern fonts set to revamp its overall look. Even small changes can significantly impact transforming an old site into something new and impressive. Google fonts is free, and offers many great options.
- Consider a redesign – when you need more than the basics
Your website plays a big part in the identity of your business. The way your website looks will have a big impact on the way your visitors feel when they land on your website. What will their first impression be? Are they going to want to do business with you? You are not doing yourself any favors by still using outdated stock graphics and imagery.
Your brand’s identity is shaped by elements like layout, fonts, colors, etc. To keep your website looking crisp, determine which sections have aged gracefully and which areas need improvement.
- Replace your outdated images & graphics with a mix professionally taken photos of your staff and business along with some carefully curated high end stock images.
- Choose a simple, clean font will make your site look sleek and modern. For example, Google Fonts offers many free typefaces.
- An updated color palette can also improve the experience of your visitors.
- Improve Your Communication
We’ve talked about the 6 seconds you have to grab your visitors attention and keep them on your website so it’s not a surprise that there’s little time for you to get your message across.
Regardless of what you sell, the customer is primarily interested in how you will help them solve their problem. It’s always about them, whatever you say. So make sure visitors can find the content they are looking for without a lot of clicking around.
Speaking of communication it’s a good idea to sprinkle in a variety of compelling and relevant Call to Actions (CTAs) on your site. Believe it or not, your visitors aren’t mind readers so you need to tell them how they take the next step. CTAs provide various options for the visitor to take action, such as:
- “Call Now”
- “Book Your Appointment Today”
- “Join Now by clicking here,”
- “Get started Today”
- “Connect with us Today”
- “Get your free ______ today”
- “Signup today and get ________ “
- And don’t forget about social sharing buttons.
The most important thing is that your CTA’s should be well-designed and strategically placed in areas where clients can easily see them.
Pro tip: Make sure that your CTA’s contrast well with the rest of your design but don’t get blend into the rest of your content. CTA’s are most effective when they look like buttons.
- Improve Your User Experience
You must design your website so that the customer can navigate through it quickly. Your site will attract more visitors if it is easy to navigate. Just a few changes to your menu and checking that every link works can make a massive difference in the over all user experience.
- Your navigation consists of links connecting your website’s pages. Carefully examine all your website pages and make sure they are still relevant and organized.
- Test your links. Make sure that they don’t lead to 404 Error (Page Not Found). This makes your website appear not maintained and sloppy. Take a look at all the links on your site, including internal and external, and ensure they’re taking your visitors where you want them to go.
Check out part 2 of this article where I give you some more advice for getting your website up to date.
