The pace of technological advancements is incredibly fast, which influences the behavior of consumers and the web. Consequently, your business’s web design must keep up with these changes. Consistent web development is vital to ensure that your website is functioning effectively. In some cases, a company’s requirements may have changed so much that creating a completely new website is more logical.
A website revamp encompasses more than just aesthetic modifications. With advancements in web technology over the years, important developments such as improved user experience, simplified management, and better functionality have been possible. When your business website falls short of your objectives, assessing 10 criteria can assist in determining whether it requires a redesign.
1. Your website is old
Have you recently updated your business website design? It’s recommended to redesign your website every 2-3 years as significant advancements occur in technology and design during this time. While the internet is constantly evolving, it’s unnecessary to fret over every minor detail. It’s worth noting that despite smartphones being in use for several years, only a handful of businesses have established their mobile presence.
If you are unsure of when your website was last redesigned, it may be a sign that a new redesign is needed. Moreover, if your website has features like Flash elements, automatic music or video player, or shiny banners, it is definitely time for a redesign.
2. The website functionality does not meet business needs
Every business experiences growth, requiring changes to their website to showcase their success to their customers. However, issues arise when the existing website cannot accommodate necessary modifications. For instance, if you need to add an ecommerce module, but your website only has product descriptions. If you are unable to make the required changes, your online business will suffer. In some cases, building a new website may be more practical than updating the existing one.
3. Your product range doesn’t meet reality
Frequently, when a company expands, their product range will change. To keep your website up-to-date, you must showcase any new items or significant changes to your range. Failure to provide new content will leave your website outdated and displaying sold-out products will harm your reputation. Your business will lose potential customers if you do not offer fresh information about your company. The situation becomes worse if you lack the skills or access necessary to make the necessary changes. Without knowledge of how to update the site, it is difficult to maintain a positive online image.
4. The website structure doesn’t meet business growth
The objectives of businesses are evolving, and as a result, their website needs are also shifting. Older websites, developed using HTML, may not be able to meet these needs. Editing such websites involves altering code, which is a complicated type of content management. If you are unable to add or modify existing categories on your site and you need to make significant changes, it may be time to consider building a new website.
5. Your competitor’s website is prettier than yours
If your competitors have recently emerged and are snatching away your clients with their latest sophisticated website, it’s essential to recognize and accept the fact. Their website could be more efficient, user-friendly, well-structured, or contemporary. It’s crucial to remember that the business website influences 70% of the purchase decision. If your website is inferior to your competitors, then you may end up losing your clients.
6. The content is outdated
Are there broken links such as 404 error pages on your website? Despite its ease of fixing, broken links may indicate a larger issue: your website is disorganized and inadequately maintained. If there are numerous broken links, errors, absent images, and other malfunctioning elements, you may need to contemplate a revamp. When establishing a new website, ensure that you select a CMS that simplifies updating information and adding new pages to prevent outdated content.
7. Target group expectations/needs have changed
Have you experienced a decline in your website traffic? High bounce rates are occurring as visitors exit your page without exploring further. It could be possible that your target audience’s preferences have shifted, and your website is not keeping up with their needs. You can investigate your web analytics to identify your visitors’ typical navigation on your site. How do they access your website, and at what point do they depart? If your product pages have a high exit rate, it indicates a deficiency in digital marketing and/or a shift in consumer behavior.
8. No social integration
There is no question about the significance of social media in a marketing strategy. Without displaying your social channels on your primary marketing platform, which is your website, potential customers won’t be able to locate you on social media. Frequently, individuals are unwilling to make an effort to find you. Social media is a great means of building customer relationships and advertising your brand. Make certain to include social buttons on your website if they are absent. To each blog post, add sharing buttons by examining your blog.
This vector illustration features a contemporary flat design style and depicts the concept of wireframing a web page, coding the interface for a mobile website, and selecting a color scheme using a digital tablet. The image is set against a stylishly colored background.
9. Your web design is not mobile-friendly
Do you notice a rise in traffic from mobile devices, but are they leaving your site without converting? This is due to the fact that a typical website may not cater to the requirements of mobile users. With the growing trend of mobile usage, a larger number of mobile visitors are likely to visit your site. As a result, it is imperative that they receive a comparable user experience as they would on a desktop. If your site does not adopt responsive design, it is not equipped for mobile usage. Alternatively, you could create a mobile web that does not mandate the rebuilding of your existing site. Learn more about the distinctions between responsive web design and mobile web.
10. Your website is not visible on search
To perform well on a search engine results page, ongoing technical adjustments and content updates are essential. Technical tasks involve selecting suitable keywords and optimizing pages according to relevant keywords. Certain CMS systems simplify the process of setting metadata without requiring code manipulation. However, if you lack a CMS, a professional web developer’s assistance is probably necessary. Search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, Bing, Yandex, etc. prioritize up-to-date and related content as a determining factor for ranking. To comply with their requirements and remain at the top of search results, it’s crucial to regularly incorporate fresh content. Therefore, it’s vital that you can independently update your site’s content and incorporate new pages. The most effective way to maintain your site’s freshness is through creating a blog.
BONUS: How to Choose the Right Digital Marketing Strategy for Your Business
To achieve a prosperous digital marketing approach, relying on the latest digital marketing trends or making assumptions about your customers’ preferences is insufficient. Rather, it necessitates being guided by insights derived from data.
According to Jess Reilly, the chief marketing officer at Rebel Interactive Group, those who excel in marketing comprehend that scalable digital marketing has evolved into people-based advertising, which involves delivering the appropriate message to the appropriate individual at the appropriate time and through the appropriate channel.
Choosing a digital marketing strategy includes building buyer personas, identifying your goals, choosing the right digital marketing tools, and assessing your strategy to ensure it’s working.
1. Build buyer personas to understand your target audience.
Buyer personas refer to imaginary individuals that embody the typical consumers that your brand could appeal to. Employing these personas allows you to effectively advertise your offerings to this particular segment of the population.
“Reilly suggested that the creation of buyer personas is useful in identifying the target audience, their circumstances and crucially, the objectives they are striving to achieve. This information can then be utilized to shape your messaging approach and develop an effective marketing plan.”
When constructing customer personas, take into account the subsequent details regarding your intended audience.
- Job type
- Interests
- Age
- Gender
- General demographics
- Most-used social platforms
- Beliefs and values
After that, tailor your approach according to these particulars.
Suggestion: To comprehend the grievances and aspirations of a particular market, it is advisable to accumulate feedback and viewpoints from customers through online surveys, email or text-based surveys.
2. Identify your goals, and align them to your strategy.
What are your marketing strategy goals? For example, you may want to build brand awareness, increase product sales or attract a larger social following. Be specific about your goals to direct your efforts effectively. We’ll explore some specific examples.
If your goal is to heighten brand awareness:
Is your brand recognized by your intended customers who prefer purchasing exclusively from reliable brands? Are they familiar with your brand and have adequate trust to make a purchase?
If enhancing brand recognition and bolstering the reputation of your business are paramount.
If your goal is to raise consumer awareness:
Low search volumes for your target keywords may indicate that consumers are unaware of how your product or service can enhance their lives, leading to them not actively seeking out your company.
If your sales process and website traffic are not an issue, you may be dealing with a situation where consumers are not aware of your product or service. In such a case, your aim in digital marketing strategy should be to inform potential customers about a particular issue they face, and subsequently provide them with your desirable solution.
If your goal is to increase traffic:
Most business owners consider traffic as an essential key performance indicator (KPI) due to the correlation between high-quality traffic and more sales leads and actual sales. As a result, traffic is highly sought-after.
To achieve maximum traffic, prioritize pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, a proficient search engine optimization (SEO) tactic, and email marketing.
If your goal is to increase leads:
Generating leads for your sales team to pursue should be the focus if you have a costly or intricate product as it is impractical to anticipate customers to purchase it online on the first go.
If your goal is to increase sales:
In order to enhance sales, it’s probable that you need to employ a strategic email marketing approach and elevate traffic to your website’s landing page.
3. Choose digital marketing tools based on your primary goals.
There exist different marketing instruments such as content marketing calendar templates, social networks, and email marketing software. Each tool serves a particular purpose and offers distinct benefits. Thus, the appropriate tools for your marketing campaign will hinge on your objectives.
According to Prentiss, each business has unique requirements or deficits to address. This may entail insufficient reviews, low rankings on Google, or a badly designed website. Whatever the situation may be, every business necessitates distinct tools.
Arrange your objectives in order of importance and thoroughly analyze your finances to identify your most beneficial investments. When the sale is distant, opt for lower-cost alternatives like email and social media postings since there will likely be substantial loss in your sales funnel. You can later reevaluate and test different tools available.
4. Audit your current digital marketing strategy.
The process of auditing your digital marketing strategy encompasses analyzing the effectiveness of previous tactics, experimenting with current approaches, and identifying areas that require adjustment.
- Discover the true ROI of past efforts. You’ll need to measure ROI for digital marketing campaigns you ran in the past. Reilly advised business owners to ask how much “lift” each marketing channel provided in previous seasons. “Using a combination of customer purchase data, digital tracking data and any traditional media buys you have, you can dive into the data to discover what your true ROI was in the past and opportunities to grow in the future,” Reilly said.
- Test new strategies. Before going live with your new strategy, test it to see what might work and what won’t. Spend time figuring out if there are aspects of your strategy that can be fixed or improved.
- Determine what needs tweaking. Prentiss recommended monitoring your progress to determine what might need shifting. “We set daily, weekly and sometimes even monthly reminders to check on the progress we made,” Prentiss said. “The daily and weekly check-ins on what we created are very important in the beginning so we can adjust what we are doing. This truly ensures the success of the campaign.”
Simply put, if the expenses incurred per lead exceed the profits earned upon finalizing the sale, your return on investment falls short and requires modifications.
