The 7 Signs That You Need a New Website

There can be a wide gap between the website your business currently has and the website it needs. This isn’t just personal preference: depending on the age, functionality, and content on your website, you could be missing out on more visits, actions, and purchases. While age is the biggest contributing factor (older websites simply don’t have the functionality and tools of modern ones), even the newest website can be a flop if it doesn’t contain key features. Let’s review the signs that can contribute to website failures and might mean you need a new website.

1. Lacking Responsive Design for Mobile Devices

How many people view your website on the phone? The answer might surprise you. Take a look at your website on a phone: how does it look? If you’re having trouble viewing and navigating your website, you’re in trouble: this means your current site isn’t “responsive” and isn’t scaling and modifying itself on mobile devices. Lacking a mobile-friendly site means you’re losing out on a significant amount of traffic.

2. Meta Meek: Meta Titles and Descriptions

Has your website always had trouble ranking high on search, even if you’ve owned the website and its domain forever? It might be an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) issue where the data search engines show about your site – namely the titles and descriptions – aren’t optimized for the search engine and those who browse it. Metadata like this is vital for standing out on Google Search and elsewhere.

3. How Keywords Have Changed

Another vital part of SEO are keywords, a concept as old as search engines. You may already understand the basics of keywords, but when did you last use them? Keywords have changed with the times: no longer a dumping pile on pages and metadata, modern keywords are longer and smarter and work best in variation. If you’re still using those old tactics, you could be hurting your ranking. So, how’s your keyword health?

4. E-Commerce: Modernization and Convenience

Does your website have an online store? Do you want one? If you answered yes to either of these questions, it’s important to have your store set up right. Modern stores need to be both convenient and secure for your users. This means no third-party portals, having a secure HTTPS store, and, if you want to sell overseas, following GDPR requirements.

5. Outdated HTML and Content Management Systems

How well does your website run, and how easy is it to make changes to it? If you’ve answered either question in the negative, the most common issue is you’re running on an older HTML system or CMS (Content Management Systems). From load times to back-end edits, if it’s becoming a big issue for you and your clients, it’s time to update your website. We recommend WordPress (it’s what we use) and make a new start.

6. Inconsistent Branding and Themes on Your Website

Do you have a Franken-site, with dozens of pages stitched together with different themes, colors, fonts, writing styles, functionality, and other competing features? Chances are your visitors are finding the experience jarring, and they are going to question the legitimacy of your site and the competency of your products and services. From website to social media, if you don’t have a consistent brand, people will look elsewhere.

7. Low Conversion Rate for Forms and Stores

A conversion is an advertising term for when people perform an action that is valuable to your company that can be tracked, such as filling out a form, purchasing a product, or calling your business and provide sales or sales leads. Find you’ve got a low rate or it has been declining over the years? Your current website could be contributing, from people struggling to find your site or fill out your forms, or you may be missing out on industry trends that are driving customers to other sites.

Are any of these signs ringing true for your current website? It might be time to contact us at Vision. We’re a full-service digital marketing firm, which means we do both website design and development and can package that as part of a comprehensive marketing plan to help you reach your audience as well as your goals. Contact us today to get started.