Does Your Website Need an Upgrade?

If you’re just setting up your business, then your website is current and hopefully taking full advantage of all the latest in web technology. If you’ve been around for a while, however, when was the last time you had a hard look at your site to see if it’s due for an upgrade?

Technology changes all the time. That can be a good thing or a bad thing. It means that there are constantly new and improved ways to accomplish tasks. There are easy-to-use tools that enable you to automate repeatable functions so you can focus on creating something new. On the other hand, not keeping up with technology can leave you in the dust when it comes to showing up in search results or getting visitors to your website. If you’re not doing anything to your website, it will be considered dormant and fewer people (and search engines) will consider it relevant enough to visit.

What can you do about this? First, ask yourself some questions:

– Is the website user friendly? You should be able to navigate through the site with ease and it shouldn’t take too many clicks to get where you want to go.

– Does the website load slowly? If it takes more than 2 seconds to load a page you run the risk of having visitors navigate away.

– How old is your website? If it’s more than 3 years old, there’s a good chance that security risks may be higher. Check with your provider to perform an upgrade or rework the site.

– Is your content stagnant? To truly engage visitors, you’ll need to go beyond a ‘brochure site’ and encourage interaction. Adding a Blog or Latest News page might be the solution.

– Does your website still serve its purpose? Your goals for your website may have changed. Evaluate your needs and adapt accordingly.

– How does your site look on a mobile device? Responsive design enables you to build a site that will look good on a variety of devices.

– Can you easily make changes yourself? If you’re not already using a content management system such as WordPress or Joomla, then you should seriously consider it. Updating your content then becomes a breeze and you only need to have basic word processing skills to do it yourself.

Once you’ve reflected on these questions and you decide that your site might be due for an upgrade, contact your web developer and schedule the time to do it. Your website is the hub of your online world and you need it to be a current and accurate reflection of your business.

Not sure if your site needs attention? Contact Marnie at marnie@communicationartistry.ca for a free website evaluation.

Marnie Hughes is an SEO copywriter, author and project manager. She works with small and medium-sized businesses to develop their marketing and communications and expand their customer base.