6 Signs Your Website Needs A Refresh
Brenna Connolly
October 5, 2023
When you visit your company website, are you bursting with pride for your business? Or peeking through the fingers covering your eyes? Your website is where your brand lives digitally, a virtual home that portrays the core of who your company is. It’s easy for that web home to go from sparkling mansion to rundown shack real quick. The core elements of your brand, including its messaging, values, and overall look, should be consistent across all touchpoints of your business. And your website should be a hub for all of the above.
Over time, as your business grows and evolves, your website can unintentionally drift from your core brand. Sometimes things are quickly added and just never re-evaluated later or maybe you never quite got around to updating your site after tweaks or enhancements to your visual brand. These inconsistencies can naturally creep up, but if they aren’t addressed they can lead to confusion and inaccuracy for your customers. A consistent brand builds trust in your company and encourages engagement in your business.
When you have a strong base site that needs a bit of updating, a website refresh can work wonders to realign your branding and ensure your business stays on course. Unlike a total redesign, a website refresh focuses on areas of improvement. It addresses design, messaging, and/or content inconsistencies, ensuring your website matches your business’ current offerings, look, and personality without the expense of a full web redesign.
So, could your website use a little makeover? Here are a few indicators it might be time.
- Outdated Design: If your website looks like it’s stuck in the early 2000s, and not in a cute, trendy, nostalgia-marketing way, it’s time for a refresh. Outdated design doesn’t give people confidence that you’re on top of the latest in your industry and can make your business appear unprofessional and less trustworthy to visitors.
- Slow Loading Times: How long does it take for your site pages to load? If it’s slooooww, or even “takes a moment”, it’s increasing the bounce rate of your site. People aren’t waiting! They will simply hit the back button before they even seen your content.
- Not Mobile-Friendly: It’s all about the phones. Having a mobile-responsive design is crucial. Take a look at how your site appears on your own phone. If it looks kinda wonky and is hard for even you to use, you’re missing out on a significant portion of potential visitors.
- Low Conversion Rates: Your website should be driving business for you. If it’s not effectively converting visitors into customers or leads, your calls to action, submission forms, or overall user experience may be lacking.
- Inconsistent Branding: Alright, take a quick count. How many different fonts are you using on your site? How many colors? Eeeek, are you (fingers crossed) using the same logo throughout it? If you have several fonts, colors, or logos, you have to whittle down which ones are important to your current brand and stick to them.
- Dated Content: Cruise through your site, click around. If you find yourself thinking, “Oooh, that’s not true anymore, I gotta remove that” it’s time to evaluate your content. Keeping information on there that’s no longer relevant or informative can hurt your credibility. It’s time to remove the COVID update you posted in March of 2020. It’s not relevant anymore.
Do any of these points hit a little too close to home? Sorry, we don’t mean to hurt any feelings. Let us gently encourage you to reinvest in your business and treat your website to a little pampering. Doing so can result in real results for your organization. You deserve it!
Luckily, we know a few web experts that can do the job. Our team, of course. Give us a call today (952-449-6800), or shoot us a quick email via the link below, and get your website back on track.