A new website is a huge commitment – and not just financially. It takes time to write content, brainstorm how the site should function, determine who your audience is, and understand how they will navigate through the site. Since your website is one of the primary ways potential customers interact with your business and the ‘hub’ of all your marketing tactics, any improvements are likely to be worthwhile. But, How can you be sure what improvements are needed? And should you invest in an entirely new website, or just fine-tune the one you have?
We’ve put together a list of five signs that your website requires work to help you make that decision
1. You’re getting a ton of e-mail spam, and you’re not sure why.
There are evil forces out there on the Internet that scan through website data and find forms that they can fill out with spam messages. Typically, these spammers do not discriminate which websites they target. They use your forms to promote products, spread links, or even inject malicious code into your website database.
There are some quick fixes for spam problems, such as using an anti-spam plugin on WordPress or using HoneyPots. However, the best way to protect your site and the people who use it is to have a professional work on it. Experienced website developers can use their wizardry (we can’t give away all the secrets!) to build a stronger web form that blocks almost all automated submissions by design. With the right code and the right techniques, your site can be more secure for everyone.
2. Your website isn’t responsive (mobile-friendly) when accessed from a tablet or cell phone.
Having your website optimized so that your users get a seamless experience no matter what kind of device they use is imperative for business. Conversion rates plummet when your website isn’t easy to navigate using a mobile device. In the past, the norm was to build stand-alone mobile site, but this is more time consuming, difficult to manage, and not cost effective.
At the end of the day, knowing your website is easy to read and navigate through for your audience is a top priority! Responsive web design gives you that peace of mind knowing that your website is coded to perform optimally no matter what device it’s being accessed from. Let the code do the work for you!
3. You find it difficult to change content on your website.
With the rise of many open-source website creation tools, creating and modifying websites has become much more user-friendly. People all around the world are able to create blogs, business sites, and even complex product catalog websites with a relative amount of ease.
As a result, if you’re still struggling to change text on your website because the content management system (CMS) you use isn’t functional, a change may be in order! Depending on how you were sold your CMS, you may have one that is more complicated than necessary and offers more features than you require. On the other hand, you may also have a system that is missing the options/features you need.
Depending on your needs, an expert web designer can either tailor an existing CMS system to meet your unique needs, or create a custom system that is built for your business, your day-to-day operations, and your exclusive content requirements.
4. People are coming to your homepage and immediately leaving.
By evaluating your website’s analytics (a tool to analyze the stats on your website), you can see if people are clicking on other tabs and links once they arrive on your homepage. If they aren’t, that’s not a good thing! A high bounce rate (users leaving after viewing only one page) indicates that people are getting confused when they access your homepage, or they aren’t being drawn in enough to look further for more information.
An engaging, easily navigated home page is essential, and in order to provide that you need to know what people are coming to your homepage for. Are most people looking to buy something from you? Or donate? Or find your contact information? These are questions you will need to ask.
This challenge won’t be an easy fix. It may require a new design or a re-structuring of your current site. But without it, your website won’t be able to serve its purpose.
5. Your site doesn’t seem to be generating any leads.
Are the majority of your sales coming from phone calls made by sales representatives or face-to-face interactions? Your site should be bringing in leads for you too. This could be a result of poor design or a lack of relevant and concise information on your site. But more often, it’s because you aren’t clearly directing people. By using SEO (search engine optimization), you can ensure your content is targeted and to-the-point and you can guide your users to the exact location you need them to go. For example, if you want more people to buy camping equipment from your business, you could write a blog post about tents, and then place a call to action at the end of the post (Visit our tent catalog to find your perfect tent today!) with a link to that specific destination.
The more optimized and clickable your content is, the more likely people will engage and purchase through your site.
Custom Web Design Services
BubbleUP is an Edmonton Web Design company that builds clean, modern websites for businesses just like yours.
Learn more about our Web Design Services or start the conversation about your new website today!
