10 Signs You Need a New Website

Travis McAshanDevelopment
Mar 2010

Just a Note…

Redesigning your business website is a large undertaking. Review the list below to determine how likely a candidate you are for a new website. We’re definitely not trying to give you website envy or diagnose a need that isn’t real. This is simply our list of signs you should look out for when thinking about getting a new website.

#1. Your website speaks the WRONG message

Just recently I was speaking with a potential client who wanted a new site. One of his biggest concerns was that his site lacks a clear message. I like to say that your website is a “wall, window or door”. What I mean is this: your site can exist on the web with factual information (a wall), provide a little about who you are (a window), or fully give the real picture of who you are (a door). I know this is a random analogy, but your website’s message should be the door to your company that allows people establish a trust relationship and eventually transact.

#2. Your website doesn’t have a CLEAR purpose

The most important aspect of a business website is to facilitate the business to achieve the overall company goals. Typically, this translates into a few common online goals like building credibility, increasing leads or sales, supporting marketing efforts and providing valuable information. However, just having a website does NOT mean your site is accomplishing these goals. For example, does your site clearly show your brand and identity? Is it understood in 5-7 seconds EXACTLY what your service offering is? Are the “calls to action” aligned with your company and online goals? The first step is clearly identifying your website goals, then implementing them. How does your site fare?

#3. You can’t update your OWN content

In 1984, there was a famous movie called 2010… it was about the future. Well, it is the year 2010, and we’re living in the future. If you have to hold your web designer’s cat hostage to get changes done to your site in less than two weeks, then it’s probably time for a new site. The fact is, most sites today are built on content management systems (CMS) that allow an average non-technical person to easily manage simple things like text and image changes. A CMS should be a standard part of your website management experience. We use WordPress as our standard platform of choice for speed, ease of use and development flexibility. Whatever you use, just make sure you’re using something that makes your life easier, not harder.

#4. Your site looks OUT of date

It’s been proven time and time again that a person’s perception of your company is directly affected by their perception of your website. Think of your website as a virtual storefront on main street. Make sure the sign is well lit, the sidewalk is swept, the walls are freshly painted and the style of the place doesn’t make you look like you stepped out of 1922 (from the storefront analogy). The most common time frame for major updates to your web presence is probably every 3-4 years. However, at GLIDE we’re very proud of the fact that some of our clients’ sites at still receive rave reviews from their customers about their sites more than 5 years later. It just proves that classic style and usability never goes out of style.

#5. Your website has very LONG load times

In the world of rich media, most websites have overcompensated with a huge amount of unnecessary bloat. While good web design needs a nice mix of text, images, video and interactivity, don’t do this at the expense of very long load times. It amazes me to see splash screens and loading animations on large high-traffic company websites. Remember that you lose site visitors for every second a page loads. Tests at Amazon revealed similar results: every 100 ms increase in load time of Amazon.com decreased sales by 1% (Kohavi and Longbotham 2007). Google discovered that a change in a 10‐result page loading in 0.4 seconds to a 30‐result page loading in 0.9 seconds decreased traffic and ad revenues by 20% (Linden 2006). Moral of the story is long load time = lost customers.

#6. Your website lacks a consistent look and feel

While this might not seem like the most obvious sign of a redesign need, it’s important that people consider it. In the design world, we use an acronym for great design called “CRAP” which stands for “Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity”. Whether you know it or not, YOU subconsciously gravitate towards designs that have these charateristics. Typically, as sites get older and many rounds of content has been added over time, the site becomes a mess of random additions. This lack of consistency can dilute your message and brand. In addition, your information structure and site organization can become a nightmare for customers to navigate and a true pain for you, the website owner.

#7. You can’t FIND your own website on Google

We’re not talking about your most competitive keywords. We’re simply talking about typing in your company name in Google and searching for your website. Typically, with most companies, they should be in the top 5 results for their own brand name. If you simply can’t find your site in Google, you can officially start worrying. Customers tend to search in google rather than bother remembering a domain name. Most of our client sites’ highest search terms are ALWAYS related to their company name. Showing up for your company brand should be a non-issue… is yours?

#8. The site has mistakes, typos, and OLD information

Over time a website can simply become defunct. Typically, we find an inverse relationship with the age of the website versus the level of interest in fixing any blatant site errors. (I kind of liken this to the idea of getting a scratch on a new car versus an old beat up car). Perhaps your entire board of trustees have since moved on or maybe you have expanded your service offering to include a whole new range of products or services. The idea is that the information is full of mistakes, inconsistencies and old information and it has to go. Basically, in with the new and out with the old.

#9. Does your website work on ALL browsers?

If your website was built during the 90’s, you might have a note somewhere at the bottom that says, “this site works best in Internet Explorer 6.0+”. This is a dead give away that you could be having formatting problems in newer browsers. The problem with browser display problems is that typically, if you could see the problem, it would be fixed. Be sure your web developer supports all the latest browsers before signing a contract.

#10. Are people FINDING you from your website?

Depending on your company goals, online goals and “calls to action”, your mileage may vary on the results you expect from your website. If you’re an e-commerce website, traffic and conversion is the matter of staying in business. In a referral-based industry, a website helps drive warm referrals to the place where they are ready to contact you. Is your website getting traffic? Is that traffic quality traffic? Are people contacting you from your site? Are they quality leads? Of all the signs that you need a new website, this is the one that I’m hesitant to easily say you need to “redesign the site”. Before you decide on a new site, you might want to consider other factors such as site traffic and conversion rates.

What are your next steps?

Deciding to redesign your website is a commitment of time, energy, resources and, of course, some of your hard earned cash. Before you decide to travel down the “website redesign” road, make sure you have a clear understanding of (a) where you are, (b) where you want to go, and (c) how you’re going to get there. Of course, if you need some help, feel free to ask us a question or request a free website evaluation.

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