Four reasons your outdated website may be hurting your small business

Business laptop with iphone

It feels like forever-ago when you last invested in a website for your business.

That old, tired content sits there, staring back at you — is it menace or boredom? — waiting for something different. Something fresh. Something new.

But you hesitate. Is a web redesign worth the investment? After all, there are other things you could spend your money on to help your bottom line.

Meanwhile, that once promising bit of online real estate remains under-utilized, potentially hurting your small business.

Give Me Four Reasons

If your aim is a well-designed site that serves no purpose, then a redesign isn’t necessary. If this isn’t the case, here are four reasons your outdated site may be doing more harm than good.

1. Your site is not mobile-ready.

In 2014, comScore reported that there are more global mobile users than desktop users. This trend will only increase over time. If your core audience isn’t interacting with you over mobile today, they likely will be soon. Google is already planning for it. They now rank mobile-ready sites higher than non-ready sites.

2. Your site isn’t asking visitors to take action.

As you now know, modern sites are purpose-driven. They are one component of your online marketing presence, and should communicate directly with customers to generate leads, convert sales, or otherwise engage your customers. If they don’t, then you may be missing out on valuable customer relationships.

3. Your content is stale and difficult to update.

Many modern sites leverage the power of content management systems (CMS’s). If you’ve heard of WordPress, then you’ve heard of a CMS. When designed well, these systems make managing and updating content a simple process. Their built-in publishing platform encourages regular content updates, and guess what Google’s search engine algorithms love? Regular content updates.

4. Your site doesn’t measure analytics.

The key to improving something is the ability to measure it. If you aren’t measuring your site’s goals and performance, you can’t know whether your business objectives are being met, and you are unable to identify which areas to optimize to better serve your customers.

The Future is Now

There are more than four reasons, of course, but addressing these can get you well on your way to a successful online presence.

We’ve moved on from the days of “brochure sites” — heavily-designed pages upon heavily-designed pages of static content that do little to interest visitors.

Modern, purpose-driven websites are engaging, visitor-focused tools serving specific objectives, such as generating sales leads or converting visitors into buyers. They anchor the online marketing presence. They are the hub for email marketing campaigns. For product promotions. They don’t vacantly stare back at you; they work for you. 24 hours a day. 7 days a week. 365 days a year.

706 Media specializes in understanding your business needs and delivering working solutions for you and your customers. Contact us today. We’d love to help your website to work for you.