Local SEO Services

6 Red Flags that Scream You Need a New Website

angry woman screaming at smart phone“Ugh!”  “This blows!”  “Seriously, this website is so yesterday.”  Strong repulsions are not the reaction any business owner or manager wants when it comes to their business website.  You have literally one chance to make a favorable impression online, and a website with one of these red flags is not going to get the reaction you want.

Your website isn’t mobile-friendly

You’d have to be unconscious to not notice how common smart phones and tablets have become.  With statistics putting American ownership of smart phones between 50% and 66% of the population, it makes cents (pun intended) to have a mobile-friendly website.

If you don’t, your website is not going to impress your two key audiences: search engines and users.  Search engines have publicly announced that mobile-friendly websites are going to get more credit for being mobile-friendly; users that do land on your website are going to jump ship almost as soon as they find it.  In essence, you’re not going to be listed where customers can find you.  Even if they do find you, your customers are not going to review all the information you created for your website.

Your website takes forever to load

Slow websites increase bounce rates; online users that get tired of waiting for a website to load, leave.  If you want your website to drive up sales, make sure that the pages load quickly enough for the most impatient users.  Slow-loading pages also give you a black mark in the eyes of search engines; major search engines like Google have publicly said that slow page loading speed can send your website off the first page of search engine results.

Why should you care about search engine listings? More than 90% of users use search engines to find information, products, and services.  With the increased use of smart phones, users are now upping the ante and using their mobile devices to find local products and services in their area.  Local SEO technology gets your website at the top of users’ search engine results within 10, 20, or 50 mile radius (find out more about local SEO in this post).

Your website isn’t worth promoting

A beautiful website is an obsolete marketing tool if you don’t promote it.  If you’re so ashamed of your website that you don’t feel the need to promote it, it’s time to invest in a new website that represents your company.  Make sure your new website has all the must-haves: functionality, a solid contact us page, well-written content, social proof.  If you don’t have time, contact a company that can make it a reality.

Once your new website is online, it’s time to promote and use it.  An excellent website never stops working for you.  Use search engine technology to get your website at the top of local users’ search engine listings.  Include useful website pages on your social media sites.  Add relevant content to your blog targeted specifically at your audience to increase traffic and online conversions. 

Your website isn’t functional

A properly-organized website is a rare and valuable gem, giving your customers an intuitive navigation system (menu and links to related content) that makes it easy for them to find what they are looking for.  If you are getting a lot of complaints from customers that they can’t find information, or your website isn’t performing as hoped, it’s time to step outside your business and look at your company as a customer would look at it.  What topics do they want to know about?  Where would they look for it?

Once you have your answers, draft a chart (or hire the experts who can do so quickly with minimal input). Use others—people outside of your company—as a sounding board to get to a finalized menu.  Sometimes you can be so close to your company and topics that it’s hard to see your company from the outside.

You’ve re-branded

When your business comes up with a new logo or takes any other steps to rebrand, don’t overlook rebranding your website and online profiles.  To the contrary, creating a website with your new logo and marketing language should be one of your top priorities.  Do the same with any social media profiles or online review profiles you’ve created; your goal is to have a uniform online business presence.

Your website looks old and is outdated

Don’t brush off a website with outdated information. Potential customers won’t call you, or do their research on your site if they know it’s outdated.  What’s even worse is when they think they’ve found the answer to their problem only to get an email that says, “sorry, our website is wrong.”

There are only so many changes that should be made to a website before a full website rebuild is in order.  Contact a quality marketing company if you don’t have the time for the process, and give them information and files they need to get you the business you want from your website.

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