5 Signs of an Outdated Website

In today’s digital world, your website should be able to effectively communicate your value proposition in a way that makes sense to consumers and other stakeholders. If you weren’t in the room to talk to your biggest potential buyer, could your website do the job? Your website plays a critical role in the buying process, and it should be able to effectively communicate important information. If your website is not capable of this, right away this is a sign you may have an outdated website.

Your website should be able to communicate your brand value proposition and effectively communicate the benefits and unique differentiation of your product(s) or service(s). If your website cannot serve this need, your business is leaving a great deal of opportunity on the table.

With companies under increasing pressure to do more with less, you would be crazy not to put effort into a strong website. A website can effectively communicate for your company 24/7 365 days a year, doesn’t need meal breaks, and can work without supervision or management. Not only can a website communicate for you, but it can also answer questions, provide important product information, and generate new leads to conversion.

A website is an extremely valuable business asset that must be maintained.

There’s nothing wrong with needing to update your website. All companies need to continuously evaluate whether their website is doing a good job serving business needs. Your website is an important part of your brand identity, and often times the first point of interaction for new customers, partners, suppliers, and other stakeholders. It’s just a matter of realizing when you have an outdated website.

Here are 5 common signs of an outdated website in need of a refresh:

1. Your homepage isn’t making an impression on people.

Not using your website to build your brand? You’re losing out. Your digital identity is a valuable company asset that you should be maximizing the value of.  46.1% of people say a website’s design is the number one criterion for discerning the credibility of the company. Is it time for a website redesign? (Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab)

Is your logo prominent? (What’s your logo look like? Read 4 Steps to Expect from a Logo Design Process)

• Are you using your brand’s color scheme?
• Are you using a consistent font for your brand?
• Does the website reflect your company’s “look and feel?”

2. Your website doesn’t look good on a mobile device or tablet.

• Is your website difficult to navigate on a mobile device or tablet?

70% of mobile searches lead to action on websites within 1 hour (iacquire)

• Do all of your website’s features work correctly on a mobile device or tablet?
• Does your website require lots of zooming and scrolling when viewed on a mobile device or tablet?

As of May 2013, 63% of adult cell owners use their phones to go online. (Pew Internet)

3. You have non-working buttons or links.

This is problematic for a variety of reasons:

• You’re potentially frustrating users.
• It looks like you don’t care about your digital presence.
• It looks like you can’t keep up with digital technology.
• Ask yourself these questions:
• When was the last time you tested your company website to make sure everything was working?
• Do you have a system in place for detecting problems, such as broken links or missing images?

4. Your imagery doesn’t do your brand justice.

90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual. (Zabisco)

• Do you have broken images on your website? This does not reflect well on your company, plus it’s a missed opportunity.
• Are you using awkward or ugly stock photography? If you’re guilty of using stock photos from the 1990s we won’t tell anyone, but it’s time to give them up.
• Are your images of poor quality? Amateur photography is not acceptable for professional web design. It reflects poorly on your company and your product/service.
• Do your images communicate anything meaningful? Images are valuable digital real estate that can play an important role in marketing communications. Don’t waste any space with pointless or random imagery.
• Make sure you don’t have any confusing or unexplained graphics.

According to this article from Jeff Bullas, articles with images get 94% more total views.

5. Your website takes too long to load.

How long does it take for your website to load? People have extremely limited patience. A KISSmetrics survey found that most people would wait 6-10 seconds before they abandon a page. What’s more, 47% of consumers expect a web page to load in 2 seconds or less.

Looking to refresh or redesign your website? Let's talk and perform a website audit to develop a strategy for success.