6 Signs Your Website Needs an Upgrade

Websites are like cars… sometimes.

When your car isn’t working, the best thing to do is take to it a professional. When your oil needs a change, you can do it yourself, but your mechanic knows all the details – what oil to use, when to recommend another oil change, etc.

Unlike cars, websites don’t have a nice dash with lights that turn on when something isn’t working. Here are 6 signs to help you determine if you’re due for a website upgrade or redesign:

#1: Your Website Doesn’t Accurately Reflect your Brand/Company Anymore

Is your website 5 years or older? Did you just have a logo or other branding update?

Make a website evaluation part of your routine business practices. Add it to the list of quarterly or bi-annual tasks that need doing, such as income taxes or reporting.

You’re always thinking of new ways to innovate in your everyday business practices, so why not make sure your website follows suit? Even the smallest update to your brand – even a business card or brochure – can make your website look and feel outdated.

Modern design elements for websites include full-width layouts, big image sliders, and descriptive iconography. If you’re missing one or more of these elements, you may be missing out on potential leads.

#2: Your Website is too Slow

The average load time for websites is 5 seconds. If your website takes anything longer than 5 seconds to fully load, you’re due for an upgrade.

You may ask: “Why does my website’s load time matter?” The answer: You’re losing potential clients.

Next you may ask: “How do I speed it up?” The answer: Make sure your website is as technologically up-to-date as possible.

Upgrades can be as simple as optimizing the images on your website or as complex as a complete overhaul of your website to use the best modern practices.

#3: Your Navigation isn’t Helping Your Clients Navigate

You might see words floating around like “UI/UX” or “user-friendly,” but what do they mean?

Simply put, the User Interactions (UI) and User Experience (UX) of your website are how easily someone can click around your site to get where they want to go.

Gone are the days of long navigation trees and clunky menus with way too much information. What’s in? Getting your potential client or user exactly where they need to be in as few clicks as possible.

A good design can help focus your website’s content so that your customers are going exactly where you want them to go and, most importantly, where they want to go. This allows you to get the most return on your investment by keeping users on your website and interested in your services.

#4: You Can’t Edit Your Website

If you haven’t upgraded your website in a few years, you may be missing out on something that could save you A LOT of money.

A Content Management System (CMS) allows users to easily create and edit the content inside a website. At 270net, we build just about all our websites on the WordPress platform, which is used by more than a third of the internet today!

By having a CMS, you no longer have to reach out to your web developer to make simple content updates which saves you money.

#5: Your Website Can’t Keep Up with Social Media/Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing is a huge topic today, and for good reason. It allows you to tap into an ever-growing community of potential clients.

Your website might be getting in the way of utilizing this massive market by its lack of digital marketing capabilities. If your website is a few years old, it may not be built with search engine optimization, analytics tracking, and other modern digital marketing tools in mind.

In order to compete with other companies in your field, digital marketing can help you climb to the top of search engines, bringing more leads to your site.

#6: It isn’t Mobile Friendly

More than half of all web traffic today is through a smartphone. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you could be cutting your potential clients in half!

At 270net, all of our websites are mobile-friendly. We make sure your website looks great on every device – desktops, laptops, tablets, or phones. Your content will display in the best possible format for each device.

In the rush each day to make your business the best it possibly can be, sometimes your website gets neglected. Performing a routine audit of how your website is working and how it compares to other sites in your niche is a valuable task to add to your to-do list.

If you think your website could use an update based on the list above, give us a call and we’ll be happy to help you get your website running as it should!