In any line of work, first impressions are everything! Your website is your business’s most important marketing asset, it should reflect the company’s persona. Perhaps you are thinking, “I’ve got everything I need for a customer on my website”, but when was the last time you updated it?
Customer standards are evolving along with technology, so if a site isn’t current then it will be perceived as outdated. If you stay on top of the latest trends and understand users’ behaviours, then you can move far ahead of the game. Visitors will take you seriously if the website represents your business. For all you know, you could be losing leads due to poor design and layouts on your landing page.
So, if you haven’t revamped your website in a while, then now is the time.
Importance of fresh design
You have 5-8 seconds to leave an impact on customers to keep them on your website and one way to achieve this is by having a compelling content and fresh design. Your landing page must have eye-catching visuals to capture the visitor’s attention. The first few seconds should tell them about your product, service and company, in other words, a value proposition.
93% of consumers believe that their purchase decision is based on the visual appearance of a website. It’s about the look and feel when a consumer is navigating. The text, visuals, content and a layout should appeal to your target audience, and draw them into reading about your offerings, leading them to take a call to action.
A good design of a website would mean that consumers have easy access to products, information and user-friendly functionality.
User experience
In this day and age, where we access information online in a snap of a finger, customers can lose their interest if a landing page takes longer than five seconds to download. Half of customers expect a website to load in just 2 seconds and perhaps a reason why you could be losing prospective clients.
Website navigation needs to be an enjoyable experience for every visitor and one way to do this is by getting rid of excess clutter from your website. Give them a clear pathway to access other touchpoints such as contact information, location and social channels.
Website content
If you haven’t updated your website design and core content in the last 2-3 years and not reflecting the latest technology trends, then it’s about time.
Website content should not be left untouched for long. It needs to be revised to ensure it’s targeting the right audience. If your website doesn’t reflect the current state of your business, then it would not boost ranking on search engines, and this is extremely crucial considering search engines optimisation is constantly evolving. The more you keep your website up-to-date, then the potential customers are enticed to visit your site again and again.
Start considering whether the tone of your writing on the website reflects your latest product or service offering. Whether you are targeting the right audience and how are they benefiting from visiting your website.
You might have recently changed your business model or launched new products and services, but are they reflected online? This is especially important when you know that potential clients are bound to visit your website before making a purchase or giving you a call.
All device friendly
Over 60% of Google searches now derive from mobile devices, and if these websites are mobile friendly then they are given search ranking priority over non-mobile sites. In March 2018, Google announced that mobile-friendly websites will be ranked high as compared to desktop versions because 52.2% of the website traffic derives from mobile phones. Everyone is on the run and on their phones, so if your site is not functioning as fast as the desktop version then customers are likely to look elsewhere.
The focus shouldn’t only be on making your business site mobile-friendly. A website needs to be designed to provide a great user experience for your visitors navigating from across various devices.
Website security
If you haven’t updated your website in the last 2-3 years, then it’s time to be concerned about your website security. This also plays a huge role in terms of sustaining your brand image. When breaches occur, then your customer can lose their faith in your brand. Having a strong website security is crucial, and again, this helps rank your website higher on search engines.
Your website redesign is more than a virtual makeover, it helps result in better online presence for your business. Websites are our latest product offering – professionally designed and mobile-responsive websites that delivers you leads from all device types. Call ReachLocal now to speak to one of our experts: 1300 655 312.
Nice! thank you so much! Thank you for sharing. Your blog posts are more interesting and informative. I think there are many people like and visit it regularly, including me.
It’s great that you talked about the importance of changing your website’s design every now and then. One of my uncles works in the construction industry, and the other day he mentioned he was worried about not having any major jobs lately. I asked about his website to share it on my social media, but he said he didn’t have any. I think that he should get a website designed as soon as possible to improve his brand awareness, and I think this article will help him out. Thanks for the information about the benefits of updating your business’s website.
Hey Eli,
We definitely recommend your uncle builds a website for his business! It’s an essential step in building his online presence, and will form a key part of any lead-generating marketing efforts he may wish to pursue in the future.