10 Signs Your Business Has Outgrown Its Website

Your website was most likely ideal when you first created it. It was as per your brand, showcased your products/services and did its job.
But businesses change. Goals evolve, behavior changes in customers' surfing habits and technology quickly evolves. If your site hasn't been up-to-date, you may be losing customers without knowing it.
Let's take a look at 10 of the clearest indicators that your business needs to upgrade its website, along with some tips on how to do it.

1. Your website lacks features. Your site does not appear appealing.

Few minutes is the total time for first impressions. If your design is similar to what is expected in 2015, you're definitely noticed.

If your site is looking outdated:

• Too much text and not enough white space
• Small, hard-to-read fonts
• Use dull, old-fashioned stock photos.Use clichés and outdated stock photos.
• Replace out-of-date flash or old-style sliders that don't function properly
• A color palette that is out of sync with your existing brand and logo.
  
  Even if a business is out of date, it's obvious from the outdated web design. When it comes to modern and clean, it instantly creates trust.

2. It's Not Mobile-Friendly

Over half of all web traffic is now mobile: from phones and tablets. If your website doesn't flex appropriately to a smaller screen, you are losing customers before they can view your content!

Look out for these red flags that are mobile:

• The text needs to be magnified for reading purposes.
• Small and/or closely spaced buttons to press correctly.
• Images which do not adjust their size appropriately.

• The ability of phone screens to roll horizontally.The option of rolling horizontally on phone screens.

  Google also takes mobile friendly sites into account when ranking websites. A non-responsive website has a negative impact on user experience and SEO.

3. Boring Web Copy is the Reason for High Bounce Rates
 

Many business owners fail to realize how important speed is. It has been consistently shown that if the pages load in a few seconds, users stick around, but as soon as the pages take longer than a few seconds to load, people tend to walk away.

There are many reasons why a website might be slow, some of which include:

• Uncompressed, oversized images
• Outdated hosting infrastructure
• Clunky code that has been over all these years with a bunch of little tweaks and additions with plugins.
• Websites that have too many scripts that are running at the same time. Websites with too many scripts active simultaneously.
  
  If your site seems slow to you, it's likely this is also the case for your visitors.

4. They May Not See That Your Website Matches Your Brand

Businesses evolve. You may have changed your website to have new services, improved messaging, or even completely rebranded, but the site is also giving mixed messages if it doesn't reflect your current identity, 3-5 years ago.

Ask yourself:

• Do you still have a Homepage that describes what you do today?
• Are there logos, colors and tone in the visuals that are consistent with your current logo, colors and tone?
• Would a new customer be able to grasp your value proposition within 10 seconds?

If your website doesn't accurately represent your business anymore, it's not only out of date, but it's also working against your brand.

5. Changing or maintaining is difficult.

When you need to call a developer, wait days and pay an invoice to make a simple change to your website, it is a problem, not a tool!
Modern businesses have to get things done quickly introduce promotions, change hours, post to blog or change product listings. All of that is made more difficult with a site that is based on old, inflexible technology.
This is among the most functional business website redesign indicators, as it impacts a day-to-day factor of your organization and not just the appearance of the website.

6. You have seen a decrease in your conversion rate.

When traffic is unconverted, it's a warning sign. If you have traffic on your website but no form submissions, sales or bookings, something is going wrong.

Possible culprits:

• Navigation is confusing and leads to key pages being buried.
• Lack of or weak call to action.
• Many steps at the checkout/contacts process.
• A design that fails to establish or grow trust to create conversion.

Sometimes you can do some minor adjustments to fix this. At other times it's simply a sign that the whole thing is in need of reconsideration. If your site gets decent visitors but conversions are still low, read our detailed breakdown of Why Is Your Website Getting Traffic but No Leads? 15 Reasons to pinpoint exactly what's holding you back.

7. You're too Vague about Your Content

As businesses expand, they introduce a new service, a new location, a new product, and perhaps even a whole new division. For a smaller, simpler business, websites that are designed to serve that sort of business can't handle that growth without being overwhelmed.

When your content structure is no longer suitable:

• A lot of pages that are filled with irrelevant content.
• Too many (or too few) menu categories that are confusing.
• Failure to differentiate between visitors from different types of leads (new customers, existing clients, partners).
• If you are unable to find something by searching, then it isn't there.

It isn't just about a facelift here; it's about a reorientation of all elements in light of the current actual operation of your business.

8. Competitor's websites look more professional.

It may be a bit uncomfortable, but it is well worth finding out: How does your website measure up to those of your competitors?

Their websites are more contemporary, quicker to load, and more clearly convey the information that would appeal to potential customers and they might select them merely since they feel more trustworthy.

If you have a dated website with sharp competitive sites, it can defeat even great products or services.

9. Traffic Has Been Low or Decreased

Technical, fast, secure and well-structured websites will get rewarded by search engines. What happens with an old website is that it is likely to develop a variety of SEO issues over time:

• Any links or redirects that are broken or outdated.
• Failing to include Alt Text and Meta Descriptions.
• Lack of a good site structure that confuses search crawlers.
• The security certificate for the remote certificate was not found.
• That which remains unchanged for years.

But if your rankings have fallen under the radar, it's not solely about the content strategy, it might be about your website's technical health.

10. It No Longer Fits your business objectives

This is the largest of all signs. Perhaps you have grown your business into e commerce, incorporated online booking, begun to serve new regions or changed your entire business model – but your website just wasn't constructed for any of these.

A website should actively help grow your business: generate leads, allow transactions, foster trust, and save your team time. If it can't anymore, then it's not a design problem, it's a strategic problem.

How do you know when it's time to revamp your website?

If you see three to four of these points, it's a clear sign that a redesign is necessary, rather than simply making some minor changes.

When redesigning a business website, the following things usually are involved:

• New overall performance, speed and SEO analysis.
• Modern and mobile-friendly design, keeping in line with your current brand.
• Navigating with simplicity to fit today's customer journey.
• Technical enhancements to improve speed, security and scalability.

If the website is too old, delaying the redesign can come at a high price in lost leads and opportunities.

FAQs

Is it time to redesign my website or just make some adjustments?

Updates might suffice if your problem is with items such as old content or minor design changes. However, if you have a number of different problems (slow speed, mobile experience, drop in conversions, old branding) then a complete redesign will typically yield better long-term benefits.

When should companies overhaul their website?

The majority of businesses will need a redesign every 2–3 years, but this depends on the industry, growth rate, and how fast the design and technology market changes within a certain business.

Will my website's current rankings be impacted by a redesign?

A proper redesign can help or not hurt SEO, depending on how well it is done – and it's important to redirect all of your old content to the new pages while maintaining the same basic structure.

What's the average time for a website redesign?

The time frame depends on the complexity of the project but most business website redesigns take anywhere between 4 to 12 weeks for the process from audit till launch.

What do you need to do to redesign my website?

Begin with a straightforward assessment of your existing site's performance, design and technical state. This audit will show you what's preventing your website from being successful and what you should focus on first.

Final Thought

Your website may be the primary introduction customers have to your business and your website should work just as hard as you do.

It's not a failure if your website outgrows you. It's not a bad thing, it's a good thing that you've progressed in your business, and you need to catch up online.

Those businesses that make their website a living site and don't just 'set it and forget it' is the ones that continue to turn website visitors into customers year over year.

If you have gotten any of the signs above, don't let the problem get out of hand. A targeted audit can help you avoid lost leads, drop in rankings and lost revenue in the future.

Looking to See How Your Web Site Ranks?

If you heard some of these words before, you might have a website that's getting in your business's way more than you think. Fortunately, you don't have to guess where problems are occurring.
A quick audit will reveal what is driving the losses in your traffic, leads and rankings and what needs to be done first.
At Pansofic Solutions, we help businesses like yours turn outdated websites into growth-ready ones.