3 Signs Your Business Website Needs An Update
When was the last time you took a look at your business website? I mean really looked at it. If you’re like most executives and managers, not recently. You know someone updates the site. But does anyone periodically review your site to gauge its effectiveness?
I’m not talking about page rank. Or SEO. I’m talking ability of your site to engage customers, partners, potential employees or anyone else coming in contact with your business for the first time. Fortunately, you can quickly assess whether your business website needs an overhaul by answering these three questions:
Does your website accurately reflect your business and brand?
When a person lands on your home page do they get a good sense of who you are, what you do and why you are valuable? The problem with a lot of business websites is they don’t accurately reflect the business and brand. The design doesn’t look like your business. The images don’t reflect your customer base. The words don’t sound like how you speak.
Think of your website like a physical store or office space. You go to great lengths to make sure everything – from the location and building exterior to the carpets and drapes – reflects your unique business identity. It’s the same thing with your website. If your website doesn’t accurately reflect your identity then it’s not doing its job.
Has your website been redesigned in the past five years?
This is a pretty easy one to answer. It either has or it hasn’t. I’m not talking about small updates. I’m talking about a site-wide overhaul. You may think a redesign every five years seems excessive. But the Web is like a young child. It’s growing quickly. That means it needs new clothes more often than you’d like.
Think about how Web use has changed in the past five years (there’s a good post about this on the Changing Journalism blog). People now use a variety of different browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome). People access the Web on mobile devices. And, of course, social media has completely changed interaction. The website you thought was amazing five years ago probably appears downright outdated to customers now.
Does your website effectively integrate your social media efforts?
As I mentioned, one of the major changes on the Web has been the rise of social media. Content that once lived on your website now lives outside of it. Updates and timely info are posted to Facebook and Twitter. Your website should connect customers to your Web activity. It should be the heart of your online presence.
Is your site connected to your social media efforts? Can visitors interact with your Facebook and Twitter pages? Can they find feeds? Your latest blog posts? Is your site self updating – reflecting your latest content? Customers expect more from business websites today. They expect engagement. They expect interactivity. That’s the face of a modern business website.
If you answered “no” to any of the questions above, it’s time to update your website. It’s a worthwhile investment that will provide your customers a better experience and, ultimately, deliver you better results.
