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How do you know when it’s time to give your business website a redesign? A sure sign is when lead conversions start to fall. But before that, other signs tell you it’s time. Is your site mobile responsive? Built with HTML5? Target your ideal customer with content marketing?
If not, your lead conversions will almost certainly start dropping if they haven’t already. But you don’t have to wait until sales decline to improve your business web presence. Here are three big signs now’s the time to act.
Antiquated Functionality
A professional website needs to run well. Antiquated features and functions slow down your site’s load time — which can cause your conversions to plummet — but more importantly, outdated widgets and plugins can leave you open to costly and time-consuming web security vulnerabilities.
Basic functionality is the keystone of a great website. HTML5 is now the web standard for modern websites. If your site was built years ago, you might still be running on HTML4 — a program that debuted in 1997! Again, security vulnerabilities and load times.
Adobe Flash is another web standard whose day has passed. Flash was once on nearly every website. But for years it was known to be vulnerable to hacking, which led hardware developers like Apple to push for a replacement. It’s now discontinued, which means many users may not even be able to see or use your Flash website content.
Other features are similarly behind the times. Color is still great, but moderation is key. Busy animated graphics and auto-playing music also belong to the days of MySpace. It’s 2017, and time for a redesign if your site still has these.
Ignores Mobile Users
A modern website can’t afford to ignore mobile users. We’ve written previously about the importance of a “mobile-friendly” and “mobile-responsive design.”
What this means is that your site needs to be optimized for visitors coming to your site via smartphone or tablet. Firstly, that means your content must fit on the screen and still be readable. With responsive web design, that means that areas of content zoom and shuffle to work on different screens. Menus, buttons, hierarchy and even the writing style of your content should work as well for mobile users as desktop users.
The reason this matters is that without mobile users, you’re missing most Google Search users — 83% of top Google search results are mobile friendly and more than 200 million smartphone owners in the US alone.
Content Missing the Mark
Another consideration, once you’ve got the basics of functionality and operability, is what’s on your website. The branding, copywriting, imagery, and unique selling position all play into whether your business site is successful. Don’t forget these elements.
It might be time to revisit the decisions you made about your site’s content if your company’s product and service offerings have changed, if you’re focusing on a new and different client target, or if the wider market for your business niche has changed significantly. These things all happen over time, as commerce never stands still. The important thing is recognizing when a shift has taken place and adapt.
Save Your Lead Conversions Before They Fall
A problem becomes a must to fix once it becomes a problem. If your web lead conversions are already sagging, you need to address the problem, which probably includes some attention to your website presence. However, you don’t have to wait for something to break before you act.
A website redesign can solve these issues before your conversions start to sag. It’s not just a matter of looking pretty or having the right software updates. A redesign will optimize your entire business site for optimum business performance.