6 reasons you need to update your website

For many of us, we launched a website when we started our business, and we kept it fresh by adding some extra features along the way, but we never overhauled it ... amirite?!!!!

The design of your website is SO IMPORTANT and looking outdated is ewwwww! (for loads of reasons which I cover below!)

There are so many things to do in your business, and as you tick them off and breathe a sigh of relief, it's easy to FORGET to ADD THEM BACK to your to-do list for UPGRADES and UPDATES! It's human nature that we pay attention to the thing that's being a total pain, and we ignore the thing that's not creating an obvious problem. BUT an outdated website IS causing you a problem, you just may not know that it is!

6 reasons why your outdated website is wreaking havoc on your sales


Here are SIX problems you'll find with an outdated website design;

  1. Confusion ~ has your branding evolved, but you've forgotten to update the look of your site? Colours, message, fonts, logo, all of these things tell us that we're on the right site because it all flows from your social media accounts to your email marketing to your website - all the ways that you show up online! If they don't match, then it's easy for your visitor to believe they've come to the wrong site, and immediately leave. You only have 3 seconds once someone has made it to your site to KEEP them there, so make sure the immediate reaction from your visitor is "YES! I'm here - and I want to explore more!" not "Aaah SHIZEN, where on earth am I? ... I'm outta here!" 
  2. Your websites SPEED ~ from the time it was last designed there has probably been lots going on in tech world and you need to keep up! The speed of your site is super important, as your visitors will only wait for a mere 3-seconds (or less!) for a site to load. Get on that!
  3. Old SEO techniques ~ if your site speed is SLOW, visitors won't hang around. Once the online presence of the site gets affected due to old SEO techniques and outdated user interfaces, your site will struggle to attract new visitors, and even if your visitors have found you through a direct link (from your socials etc) your credibility can be affected because your visitor will bail.
  4. Responsiveness ~ is your site even responsive? If your site is not optimised for mobile then it might can your business more than you'd know. SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is ever-changing (like everything in the digital world!) and you need to check what's going on with your responsive version. Don't look outdated, that can really hurt your online presence, too!
  5. Trust — with outdated and dodgy bad design come trust issues. The trust factor is imperative if you want a site visitor to hand over their email address, credit card details, or take any kind of action ... why would I trust that you're up-to-date with the latest security measures or that you're going to do the right thing with my email address, if your site looks like your little brother made it as part of a school project?
  6. Sales declining?  If your site is loading too slow, you have low organic reach, you're not attracting the right traffic, trust issues, bad UI/UX experiences, all this mix will lead to declining sales ... lack of conversion HURTS. 

Ok, so we know we need an update, but what now? Well, if you're a Shopify user, update to Shopify 2.0, and while we've been helping clients with some funky new bought themes, we've really been enjoying Shopify's own DAWN 2.0! 

If you're Wix, Wordpress, Weebly or any one of the other open source platforms, jump on into the backend and schedule some time to give your website an overhaul. Give it some love!

Before you do, put a shoutout on your Facebook page asking if a few friends would like to give you an audit ... it's easy - just ask them when they're on each page, do they know what you want them to do, if your call to action buttons are clear and well placed, if you're answering the questions they have in your product descriptions and pages, and be open to hearing the feedback! Do some split testing and then get to work giving your website the makeover it deserves!

Want some help and guidance, or need to know where to go next? Book a free discovery zoom with us and let's see if we're a great fit to work together! If we're not, we can point you in the direction of someone who will be! Book here

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