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Did you know that the average shelf life of the typical consumer website is between 3 – 5 years? Although this time period might seem a little short, in that time your website will go through a lot more than you might think. Through yearly upgrades, oncoming traffic, plugin changes, SEO shifts and weighty content, your once speedy and shiny website can rapidly slow to a stuttering halt if not taken care of.
Luckily, there are a couple of tells and hints that your website is reaching its end- from tricky technical flaws to outdated content, usability and branding. So, if you’re struggling to say goodbye to your old site, here are just a few reasons you might be in need of an upgrade.
LOSING SALES VALUE
A new site launch can often be one of the most successful periods for your online conversion and sales rate. With shiny graphics and new products, at the beginning of its life span, your site would have been running at its very best – bringing in new leads every day. Towards the end of its life span, however, slow loading times, old fashion designs and poor UX can decrease your conversion rates, often without you even noticing.
By refreshing your site, re-promoting and revamping your content for your current audience, you can give your business a fresh start. This can enable customers to feel more engaged with your website, increasing returning visitor rates and boosting your overall sales figures.
UPDATING NEW SERVICES
Your business doesn’t need to have completely changed its MO to need a new site. If you’re introducing a new service, a new product line, collection or even a new branch, a new site can help you demonstrate the exciting progress your company is making internally.
Let your site reflect the changes and shifts your business is taking, updating your user base along the way. As your business grows, so should your website, allowing it to represent the very best of your new approach.
OUTDATED VISUAL BRANDING DESIGNS
Over the past 10 years, digital design has gone through a rapid evolution when it comes to business websites. The user base of 2019 has come to expect high quality accessible, usable and attractive websites, and if your site doesn’t deliver you could be losing out on valuable consumers. Long gone are the sparkly fonts and static images of the previous decade, your new site should aim for visually pleasing minimalism, with beautiful imagery and crystal-clear call to actions throughout.
Your site should also be representing your most up-to-date branding choices. Even if you’ve simply changed a hex code here or there, your company branding needs to be entirely synchronized to your digital site. This allows customers to mentally link your offline and online services, as well as reflecting your company’s dedicated and consistent approach to branding.
Many outdated sites were also designed before the mobile revolution, meaning they don’t compute with handheld devices – alienating a large portion of younger users. One of your biggest priorities when designing your new website should be ensuring a seamlessly mobile responsive site, ready to target the newest generation of technology.
POOR UX DESIGNS
Setting aside the visuals, an outdated site with poor UX is going to struggle to succeed in 2019. From confusing site maps with half deleted pages to broken links and menus that only work on certain screen resolutions, ease of use should be a key priority of building your new site.
A quick exercise to try when evaluating your current site is put yourself in the shoes of a new visitor. Follow their natural path around your website to get to the services they want and then ask yourself the following questions: How easy was it to find the information you wanted? Were you signposted by helpful CTAs or prompts along the way? Did every page work quickly and efficiently? Was the experience engaging and enjoyable or confusing and slow-going?
A new website with improved UX can help to gain new audiences, as well as reconnect with older, existing ones. Understanding how the consumer sees your site can allow you a valuable insight into what you like about your site and what simply isn’t working.
OUTDATED BRAND VALUES
As your business website needs to be updated to reflect modern society, so should your business values. With extreme societal shifts happening every day, your consumer base is rapidly shifting and diversifying, and if your brand values no longer meet their expectations, you could be losing out.
Taking the time to reflect on your current brand values and updating them to represent the consumers of 2019 allows your business the space to grow – both on and offline. Your company site should be the first place your potential customers go to for more information on your ethical policies, business beliefs and core stances on important issues – so create values you are proud to share and allow them to be easy to find on your new site.
A new website for your business can be a lot of things; a rebrand, an upgrade, a new company direction or simply just a new coat of paint. For whatever reason you choose to build a new website, through the process of doing so you are opening up your business to new opportunities, new consumers and new values – so make the most of it.
