Three weeks of lockdown done, one more to go. If you are in a situation where it does not matter, good for you. If things are just hanging at the moment, use the time to do what you normally don’t have time for. Look at your website, for example. Why?
How old is your website?
If your website is older than your car and your car is not brand new, it is time for an update. But you are still at the same address, your contact details are still the same and what you do has not changed, so why update? There are lots of reasons, some very technical, but let’s look at four compelling reasons to update or even renew your website.
A fresh look
Brick and mortar shops have large windows that are always changing. A new season, a public holiday, new stock – their windows are always refreshed to tell the passing traffic all about it. Your website will do the same, but to more people and in a different way. It also gives a visual connection to non-shop window businesses. Whether you are a blacksmith or a wordsmith, a bookkeeper or a beekeeper, your website has to invite your potential customers to spend that moment to see what you do and why you should be doing it for them.
Even if you have large windows facing the traffic, people’s shopping habits have changed and more than 70% now browse online before setting out to buy. Make sure what they see is new and fresh and exciting, because that is where they will go.
Your business in every pocket and handbag
Your website that looks so great on your PC may look less so on your phone or tablet. It is not only because your PC’s screen is horizontal and your phone is vertical. The info on your phone needs to be presented in a different way, and you need a professional web designer to guide you with this. In the old days, people who arrived at your business have driven there, found parking, locked the car and walked through your door. Even if they could not immediately see what they wanted, they would still be more inclined to browse. On your PC you could have a nice pic in the middle, a menu on the left and some more pics on the right or below. Your phone is too small for all that. What will your customer see? Just the pic? Part of the pic? On the internet you have a couple of seconds to attract and hold their attention. Or zip! and they are gone. This brings us to the next reason to update.
User experience
There is a story of an estate agent that would bake bread in her show house, because the smell would turn the house into a home for the visitor. User experience (UX) does the same thing for web, without the bread. Obviously.
UX is a specialised area of the web that gets the visitor’s attention, holds it, then guides it to the next and the next screen to bring that visitor as close as possible to what you want your website to do for them. If your visitor is looking for dark grey wool and your website starts by telling them about your grandfather buying his first sheep, your UX needs work. People are impatient on the web, and with UX you can make that impatience your asset. But needs change, and UX that worked great in 2019 may not have survived to 2021.
Your website, your window to the world
If it is worth your while to have a website, it is worth keeping it up to date. It is the best and most cost-effective way to keep your business visible to potential customers. For a free, no-obligation evaluation of the current state of your website, give us a shout.
Article Credit: Philip Gelderblom