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How do you know if your website is outdated?

Just like smartphones and tablets, a website can become obsolete. With how front-facing website designs are, it is more important than ever to make certain that your site is up-to-date. An outdated website plans seeds of doubt in visitors to your site. Visitors may wonder if they can rely on the company. Some might even worry if the company still remains in business. 

Just like smartphones and tablets, a website can become obsolete. With how front-facing website designs are, it is more important than ever to make certain that your site is up-to-date. 

An outdated website plans seeds of doubt in visitors to your site. Visitors may wonder if they can rely on the company. Some might even worry if the company still remains in business. 

Customer satisfaction with a website’s performance and design greatly affects whether a visitor will buy from that site. 

By ensuring that your website is up to date, you can assuage any uncertainty your visitors may feel about your website’s relevancy. 

It is not optimised for mobile

Other than loading speed, mobile optimisation is one of the key indicators of whether your website is outdated. Since 2020, more than 50% of global website traffic has come from mobile. This statistic of mobile traffic surpassing non-mobile device traffic is only trending upwards as the years go by. 

If your content is not easily viewable on different types of devices and screens, then it is time to update your design. Test your site against various resolutions to ensure that mobile users will not be alienated by mobile-unfriendly sites. 

It is notable that a majority of mobile users will expect their pages to load in less than 4 seconds. 

Slow loading times

One of the clearest indicators and biggest problems of an outdated website is slow loading speed. If a website takes more than 3 seconds to load, it is considered too slow by Google’s standards, and the latency can damage your SEO rankings as well. 

Bounce rate is the marketing term for the percentage of visitors who click onto a site’s landing page but then exit it without clicking on other links on your site. Google Analytics is a tool that can show your site’s bounce rate. 

A site’s bounce rate is influenced heavily by slow loading times because many web users know by now that there is a high correlation between slow loading and outdated websites. 

Here are potential issues that may cause a slow load time for your site: 

  • Poorly optimised images 
  • An excess of redirects
  • Compression has not been enabled 
  • Lack of CSS optimisation 
  • No cached resources and/or an excess of resources 

By upgrading your site speed, your website’s performance can be improved significantly. 

Remember that 3 seconds is considered too slow for the average web browser, despite it sounding fast to the ear. 2-3 seconds is considered average, and 4+ seconds is viewed as extremely slow, dramatically hurting revenue and sales. 

Lack of social media integration

Social media is a large part of any business these days. Many users to your site hold the expectation that your brand can be found on various social media platforms. You can embed or include social media integration into your website to show your visitors that you are more approachable and modern. 

Overused stock images 

Some stock images emanate a cliché, “stock image” vibe. This makes it appear obvious that your business does not have the budget set aside for custom photography, which in turn diminishes the credibility of your website. Look over the quality of images used on your website. 

A clean, professional aesthetic without images is often better than using cluttered, unprofessional stock images. 

Outdated SEO 

As search engines like Google shift how they rank content in search results, search engine optimisation (SEO) best practices change over time. It is necessary to reflect SEO changes on your website. 

Tackling improved SEO can be a time-consuming project requiring expert assistance. It is usually a good idea to research the latest SEO best practices to grasp any recent updates to how Google ranks keywords or how their web crawlers mimic user behavior. 

How can you update your website design? 

Using a website builder can help you with building a more up-to-date website. These may range from free to rather costly to utilise. 

Another option you may wish to consider is hiring a website development professional to manage your web design. A programmer will likely be more familiar with the most advanced design and functionality requirements of a website. 

How often should you redesign your website?  

A generic recommendation for performing a website redesign is two-three years. The world of web design is constantly evolving, with new trends affecting the entire web. If your website matches the aesthetic and functionality standards of three or more years ago, it might be a good time to invest and overhaul your website design. 

If you want to improve your website and stay up to date with all the latest business and marketing trends, Mensa Marketing is here to provide you with the help you need. You can contact our team of digital strategy experts at (+61) 488 822 234 or admin@mensamarketing.com.au

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