Businesses left and right are eager to establish an online presence by launching a website, but a site is only as good as the number of leads it will generate. After all, it takes more than a web page to make an impact. And a website doesn’t matter if no one sees it. In that case, what will encourage your visitors to stay on your page and take the action you want them to? (Contact you, buy a product, book an appointment, etc.)
The answer might be simpler than you think. One of the first things you need to keep in mind is your website’s design, which reflects the tone and nature of your brand. When it comes to websites, the first impression is key. Many users are impatient and do not stay on a page long after they’ve clicked on it; a couple seconds if they’re not immediately intrigued. Beyond serving as the face of your business, a well-designed site generates more and higher quality customer traffic. You also must ensure that it is running smoothly with an effective and functioning user interface that increases conversion.
With all that in mind, you may be one of the many companies that need to update their current company website. It may be due to it looking outdated compared to the competition, or because it does not efficiently optimize SEO. To that end, this article aims to explore some signs that determine if your website needs a facelift, and how updating your web design can generate new business at an exponential rate.
1. Your website doesn’t come up when you search
Failing to appear on at least the top three of any search engines is a symptom that indicates your website has poor SEO. It is essential to properly integrate SEO-friendly strategies to your website. It is the primary way of inducing organic engagement. It also improves your visibility in search results, which is obviously crucial if you want your site to be seen.
If your site is buried beneath tons of search results or even worse; is completely absent, then something is clearly wrong with your website. A website’s objective should be garnering traffic and maintaining a steady conversion rate and if you are noticing that you do not have either, your website may be in dire need of an upgrade.
Be sure to construct your web design in a way that fully supports SEO. This means going beyond your usual tactics of adding the relevant keywords to your related product or service and implementing other features that enhance your site’s SEO. This is a tough area to navigate so don’t be ashamed to say you’re struggling in this area, it will be extremely beneficia to reach out to an agency that specializes in digital marketing/SEO as they are professionals that can help identify your website’s downsides and get it ranking highly in search engine results.
2. Your website is slow
With consumers’ limited attention span, it might make sense to adopt high definition, complex media files and images to catch the eyes and hold the attention of potential customers. While using rich graphics and videos are fun and attention-grabbing, while it might increase the time a user spends on your page, using large files can slow down your website’s loading speed. And nobody likes waiting.
When it takes more than three seconds to load your site, your viewers are more than likely going to click off your site, perhaps going over to a competitor’s, which ultimately lowers your rankings in search engines. The best way to tell the size of your media files is to use the Google PageSpeed Insights Test, which is an online tool that can determine large files on a webpage. On the other hand, there are many ways to reduce the file size of your media using online apps or Photoshop.
3. Your website does not accommodate mobile users
This is one of the biggest downfalls of amateur website designs. Smaller screens such as tablets or smartphones are becoming the new norm in comparison to desktop screens. Statistics show that an estimate of 78% of local mobile searches lead to offline sales, while consumers spend at least 69% of their time on mobile. That is a large chunk to consider, making mobile user-friendliness a vital factor to any website.
It’s essential to have a responsive design, this is when your website is calibrated and designed to adjust to any screen, from the standard desktop to a slimmed version for mobile users. It also means having legible fonts, discernable logos, and proper text formatting that should be easy to understand whether it’s on the big or small screen. The layout should be adjusted to look seamless on any device.
These are just a few of the important things to think about when building an effective website. If any of these points relate to you, it might be time to contact a professional web design firm. Luckily, Nutech Digital has a team of web designers that know how to take an outdated site, and not only make it attractive and modern, but also create a functional and intuitive user experience— ultimately increasing traffic and garnering sales. Contact us to learn more about our web design services and packages.