Even though I remember the introduction of the World Wide Web in 1990 and the first website, I still feel like this technology is older than it is. I’m tempted to refer to “How do I know when I need a new website?” is an age-old question. It’s quite crazy how far along with browsers, website design, internet speeds, and digital marketing have come along. I started my first business when I was 6 and had a rotary phone that I’d use to pretend to make business calls. It wasn’t plugged in, but my grandparents let me play with it for my pretend entrepreneurial scenarios. Nearly 30 years later I’m discussing business using a live streaming video connection with a small business owner in Taiwan. It makes me excited for the future while I reminisce on the past. Is it weird I feel nostalgic right now? So, even though it isn’t really that old of a question, it’s still a good one. How do you know when you need a new website?
There are roughly 1.5 billion websites on the WWW
As technology progresses, so does the possibilities of what that technology can do for your business. Keeping your website up-to-date is important for a variety of reasons. As trends change, clients do too. Their habits change. The way they find you change. Design that was once rounded, beveled and filled with gradient color saturation is now flat, less dimensional, with toned down designs. Things change. The relevance of the way content is interpreted and viewed changes with it. API’s change. SEO tactics change. Social Media Marketing strategies change. Google Search Engine algorithms change. You get the picture. Your website is part of your branding. It’s the only sales force you have that runs 24/7. It’s a critical component of your marketing strategy. It has to stay updated as much as your business does. If you are interested in obtaining stats that go well with this article, check out The Benefits of SEO. It is very complimentary to this article.
How Do I Know When I Need a New Website?
Based on my experiences, and the collective experiences of my Web Design Strategic Partners, I created this survey for you to know if it is time for you to get a new website. Simply answer in each section with a “yes” or a “no” in your notes and see the information in the section under the questions regarding information about your answers and what it means. If a question is not applicable you can skip it as some may be depending on your business model.
Technology
- When you pull your website up on various mobile phone devices, is your website displayed clearly with all of your content organized and visible?
- How about the text. Can you also read the text clearly on a mobile device?
- How about the navigation. Can you easily use the navigation buttons? Is the time it takes to navigate well?
If you answered “yes” to all, good! Your Mobile Deployment of your site is good to go. This is important because of the sheer number of mobile search engine users. Think about how many times a day you search for something on the internet using your phone. If your site isn’t clearly visible and provides the information your customers want to see, they will bounce quickly to the next site option. It’s likely that you either answered “yes” or “no” hear all three. If you answered “no” to one or more, you should start considering a new website, or a new and separate mobile site.
- Is your website 5 years old, or older?
- Are your plugins updated and current?
- Is any of your website running in Flash?
- Is it slow to load information, or sluggish?
If you answered “yes” to all of these, you are in trouble and your site is really, really old. I suspect most people answered “no” to at least #3. If you answered “yes” to #1 you aren’t necessarily in bad shape but I suspect your business had changed in the last 5 years, or it’s about to. You may need a new site before you can integrate new technologies and features. If you answered “yes” to #2, #4 and especially #3, you definitely need a new website. You just aren’t levering the tools out there that can grow your web presence.
- Can your website EFFICIENTLY (be honest) accommodate your e-commerce needs?
- Can your website handle automating a reasonable portion of your operations?
- Can your website take orders and process data without an employee’s involvement?
- Can your website provide real-time information that’s relevant to your business (think inventory, mapping, listings, etc.)?
- Can your employee’s process orders without writing information out manually from your site?
This section may not be applicable to you so if you answered: “N/A” to all that’s OK. There isn’t a one size fits all in the web design world. If you did answer “yes” to all of these, good for you! You are probably keeping up with your website and implementing newer technologies. If you answered “no” to all of them, you may not need a new site now, but it’s worth you exploring what new technologies are available to put your website to work for you on the operational end as well. If you answered about half and half, give or take, with “yes” and “no”, you should consider leveraging new technologies. You should also consider a new website when that future comes.
Design
- When using on a mobile device, do you lose any navigation or any features (buttons, fields, submission forms, drop down boxes, etc.)?
- Does a small portion, or greater, of your customers and/or employees comment that it’s “hard to find” things on your website?
- Do you feel like your website looks ‘outdated’ compared to other websites (be honest)?
- Do you wish that you could change anything regarding the colors, theme, layout of your site?
- Would you consider your website slow? Have you noticed it runs slower than it used to?
If you answered “yes” to one or more you are a prime candidate for a new website because the primary design isn’t doing what it should be. You should feel confident that your website looks good to your customers and they should absolutely love it. The truth is, based on a study by ResearchGate, 94% of people say that a website with a good, high-quality design, appear more trustworthy. Although the content is the most important criteria to close more sales, the design is essential to send the correct message to your potential customers within a matter of seconds. Your website has a small amount of time to make a first impression. Make sure that it does! Quick note. If your customers love your site but you don’t, your customers win. My web partners and I have the challenge of creating a design & strategy that’s tailored to your perfect clients and their preferences. Though I want nothing more than you and them to love it, designing the site to do its job trumps anything else. Oh hey, one more thing. According to KISSMetrics, 40% of people will abandon a website or page that doesn’t load in 3 seconds or less. Though it may not seem obvious, the design and architecture can play a big role in responsive speeds and load bottlenecks.
Content
- Do you have blogs on your site, or the ability to add blogs?
- Have you ever had a professional content writer to review your content, or create your content?
- Is your content still completely relevant to your business/business model?
- Is your website still consistent with the branding of your business?
- Can you easily edit, or add, content? Do you have a content management system?
If you have answered “yes” all of these questions your content is likely in really good shape. Content Marketing is a hugely critical step in the direction to secure a positive ROI. I’m a huge fan of content marketing and have a big passion for it. It’s probably one of the most overlooked aspects of marketing strategy with web design is the content strategy. If you have an interest in Content Marketing or want to understand it more, check out Understanding Content Marketing. Another great read is The Value of Target Audience Marketing to understanding the value and importance of why your content marketing should be catered towards your ideal clients. I suspect most folks answered “no” to #2 but likely “yes” to 1-2 questions. This is an average situation. The average is good, I’m just crazy passionate about perfection. There’s no need to get a new website if you’re good/average, but that does leave you room for growth and improvement. If you only answered two or less with “yes”, you definitely need a content review and will need a new site soon. If #3 & #4 were your “yes” answers, a new website is in your near future because you’re due for a change, and the site isn’t likely easily changeable with you. If #3 & #4 weren’t answered “yes”, or only one, you’re already a candidate for this need.
Digital Marketing
- Do you have SEO?
- Can you view your SEO and/or make changes?
- Do you know what digital marketing your site is using?
- Do you check Google Analytics?
- Do you know what your bounce rate is?
- Do you know how your keywords are performing?
- Do you know how many unique views are you getting a month?
If you answered “yes” to all of these, you must be a web designer, digital marketer, or a marketing consultant. Maybe the owner of Google. I know there are a lot of business owners out there this involved in knowing these metrics, which is excellent, but it’s not too common I run into it. I guess about half or a little under were answered “yes”. If so, it wouldn’t hurt for you to get a review to see where improvements can be made, and what can be added for future marketing ventures. If the bulk of responses were “no”, you definitely need to have this looked at and could be a candidate for a new website depending on your current configuration, setup, coding, access, etc. Digital marketing is super important. If you didn’t read the SEO article I linked at the top, you should. There’s a lot to know about SEO and a lot you don’t need to know. If you have a great website with perfect content, but nobody gets to see it because there’s little digital marketing, your ROI will suffer.
In Conclusion
Hopefully, after reading this you will know when it’s time to consider, or get, a new website. If nothing else, hopefully, this gave you some education to help you make some notes on what to study in your own website/marketing. When you have a good list of notes and you feel you need to review what you have, where you can improve, and what steps to take next, let’s review it together. Leveraging your digital marketing and content marketing to be catered towards your target market will afford you the greatest likelihood of achieving a positive ROI. In fact, you are 13 times more likely to do so when combining these two practices.