When is the last time you redesigned your website? If you can’t answer that it may be time to start thinking about it. Whether you operate a personal blog, a financial advisory firm or an ecommerce site, having a professional website gives you credibility and legitimacy. If you’ve been ignoring the signs it’s time to redesign your website, here’s the truth:

Before people make a purchase, subscribe to a newsletter or visit a restaurant, they do their due diligence and Google your business.

Actually, about 73% of shoppers do their product research on Amazon or Google before they make a purchase.

However, visitors will land on your website and leave in a matter of seconds if:

• Your website doesn’t reflect the services you have to offer
• Visitors are unable to find what they’re looking for
• Your site is taking too long to load

That’s why your online presence is the heartbeat of your business. But you shouldn’t be proud of having any ol’ website; at the very least, your website should always be three things: easy to find, easy to navigate and easy on the eyes. If it’s not, then a website overhaul should be at the forefront of your mind.

Unsure if it’s time for a website redesign? This list should help.

#1 Your Website is Visually Outdated:

Your website is like a blind date: first impressions really matter. Truth is, a visitor is not going to click around your site or continue scrolling if they find it to be visually unappealing. If your website was made in the 90’s and it still looks like it, guess what? It’s time for a website redesign.

A visually outdated website shows that you are out of touch with current trends. More importantly, it shows that you don’t care. It’s hard to position yourself as a leader or an expert in a specific field with a website that dictates otherwise.

Also, you are most likely losing potential customers because they are confused and probably have no idea what it is your company offers. In his blog, “Social Triggers”, Derek Halpern presents a study from researchers that shows 94% of wary respondents attributed their uneasiness to the website’s design

Your website should be updated, the same way a retailer updates their storefront with what’s new, innovative and easy to digest.

If your website still requires a flash player, has long navigation menus or is completely cluttered with nonsense, it’s time to get your website redesigned as of yesterday.

#2 Your Site is Text Heavy:

Having a text heavy site falls under the umbrella of an outdated site, but there’s so much to say about this we decided to give it its own section.

Here’s the thing: we live in a visual world. If your site has more words than images, icons or graphics, it’s time for a site redesign. No one, and I mean no one, wants to scroll through a site that’s text heavy. Not only is it uneasy on the eyes, but it’s overwhelming. Whatever message you are trying to convey will most likely get lost, misread or unread because of the surplus of text.

Additionally, a text heavy site is most likely blocking your visitors from finding your call to action buttons. What is it that you want them to do? Sign up to receive a free consultation? Download an Ebook? Whatever action you want your visitor to take, will take them three times as long to complete or they’ll abandon your site all together. People have an average attention span of 8 seconds, you want to use the visitor’s first 8 seconds on your site, wisely.

#3 It’s Difficult to Navigate:

There are certain pages on your website that should always be easy to find. For example, what your company does (About Us), what your company offers (Products or Services) and who to contact when things go awry (Contact Us or Support). If these simple, yet important pages are difficult to find, that’s a red flag that your website is in serious need of an update.

Visitors want to quickly find whatever it is they are looking for. After all, they came to your site for a reason. If they are unable to locate the page, product or information they are searching for not only will they depart from your site, but chances are they’ll take their business to a competitor. They’ll return to the search engine results page they most likely found you from and click on the next best thing.

If your site is difficult to navigate, Google will also have difficulty crawling your site. Google relies on the structure and information of a certain page to determine how it fits into the purpose of the overall website. The easier it is for google to find your site the better it is for your website to show up in relevant search queries.

#4 Low Search Engine Rankings:

Speaking of Google, Big G is the king of search engine. When people are looking for particular services or products, but don’t know who offers what they’re looking for, they turn to Google. As a business, you should strive to show up in the top results on the first page of the search engine results. About 95% of people who perform Google searches don’t click past the first page. That means, they find what they’re looking for immediately or can’t be bothered to search further.

If you have low search engine rankings, then it’s definitely time to start planning a website redesign. Initially, old web developers would cram a bunch of keywords into a website and on particular web pages, with hopes of ranking on Google. However, as Google often does, they caught on and began penalizing those types of websites.

Instead, Google encourages meaningful content that is relevant to users’ search queries. If your URL structures are broken or don’t relay what your content is about you are less likely to show up in the top search results. Inbound marketing is free, but you have to take advantage of it the right way.

#5 You Can’t Update Content Easily:

You should always be able to make quick changes to your website. Whether that be edit an existing blog post, adding or deleting products or simply updating your Terms and Services. If it takes more than an optimal time to update your content, you’re long overdue for a website redesign. If you have to email a developer to change the title of an existing page or format a single sentence on your homepage, something is terribly wrong. It’s 2017, website changes should be easy and seamless.

#6 Low Conversions, High Bounce Rate:

If visitors are coming to your site, but not fulfilling the action you want to them to complete, you’ve probably noticed a low conversion. Whether you operate an ecommerce site where your goal is to get consumers to make a purchase or an informational site where your goal is to get visitors to sign up to receive your exclusive content, you want your visitors to convert. If they’re not, it’s most likely because your site needs to be redesigned.

Users are either coming to your site and not being able find what they’re looking for or your site is completely outdated that it’s a turn off. Either way, low conversions and high bounce rates are detrimental to your business.

If visitors are spending more time on your site that’s an indicator that they are interested in what you have to offer. The longer they spend on your site, the more likely it is they are to convert or at least come back at a later date. Just because a visitor doesn’t convert, doesn’t mean it’s a loss. The fact they’ve spent a significant amount on your site has already raised brand awareness for the user. However, this can’t be achieved with an archaic site.

#7 Slow Load Time:

Time is of the essence. As we’ve mentioned, the human brain has an attention span of about 8 seconds. That means, once a visitor enters your site, regardless of the referral medium, you have 8 seconds to capture their attention. Whether you’re showing a special offer, a clear CTA or engaging content, those few seconds are crucial.

But, if none of your content loads, how long do you think the visitor is going to stay? Definitely not more than 8 seconds. They are more likely to hit the back button and try again with a different website. In fact, a good functioning website should load in 3 seconds. Which, if you think about it, will leave you with 5 whole seconds to engage your targeted audience.

Slow load time is toxic for a great user experience. If your website is loading slow, it’s most likely because your template or theme is outdated, you are in serious need of a software update and your site is ready for an extreme overhaul.

And, Google also penalizes websites with low page speed scores, so that should be motivating enough to optimize your website content accordingly.

#8 Doesn’t Reflect Company’s Mission or Marketing Goals:

If your company’s marketing goals, services offered or overall mission has changed, that should be reflected on your website. If not, it’s time for website redesign. Your website is the digital storefront of your company. When a shopper walks into a store, they should be able to understand what type of business it is, the same logic applies to you sire. Visitors to your website should always be able to decipher what it is you have to offer.

Besides, if you’ve made some new improvements to your business, added new products or have changed your branding, why wouldn’t you want to share them with the world? After all, your website is your biggest salesperson.

#9 Not Mobile Responsive:

A mobile responsive site is no longer an option, it should be a requirement. More and more users are searching for services and businesses on their mobile devices. Not only is it irresponsible to not have a mobile-friendly website, it’s detrimental for your business. People want information while they’re on the go, and they want it fast.

Plus, Google places priority in search ranking for websites that are optimized for mobile-use. As you can imagine, if you’re in good graces with Google, you’re one step closer to getting your business to soar.

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Is it time to redesign your business website?

If you’re running into any of the issues listed in this article, it’s time to really start thinking about a website redesign. Assess your website’s biggest pain points. What’s missing? What can be improved? How are these issues negatively affecting your user’s’ experience? You don’t have to have all the answers, but taking time to evaluate your online presence will get you one step closer to meeting your business goals.

Still unsure if you need to redesign your website? Contact us, we’re here to help.