Signs that Your Business Needs a New Website

As Business Owners, Marketers, and Sales executives, you spend a lot of time thinking about how to be more effective, get more traffic, leads, and sales. One of the most effective ways to grow your business is to turn your website into a business tool.

Do You Need a New Website? 

The customers’ online behaviors are changing. At the same time, website design and web development changes quickly along with the expectations of your customers. You will reach a point of diminishing returns by investing in your existing site and you will likely need a new website.  

Here a few signs your business needs a new website and why investing in a new website is the first step towards a measurable sales and marketing strategy:

Your Business Has Changed

Most businesses make changes to pricing, offerings, personnel, and more. We encourage our clients to update this type of information on the website too. For example, more restaurants are taking online orders and changing the menu. You should be updating this information on the website so that customers have consistent pricing and menu information. 

The Brand Has Changed

With changes to your business often comes changes to your brand. Your brand consists of advertising, customer service, reputation, logo, etc. By adding this information to your website, you can get more recognition for your company and potentially get new customers. This could be as simple as changing the name of your product or service packages to align with your target audience. 

The Website Content isn’t communicating the Right Message

Content is one of the most important parts of your website. We recommend that you update or improve the content to avoid being stagnant or projecting an unintended message. The customers that you want to appeal to have evolved and there is a good chance that that content has too. Your content should speak to your customer personas to understand who the site is for.  The content messaging should address their pain points.  Evaluate the decisions you make on the website to determine the impact on your desired actions such as a purchase, form completion, etc. 

Your Industry has Evolved and You Need to Adapt

There are businesses that were not positioned well for the remote working and living caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.  For example, the healthcare industry quickly adapted to telemedicine and the restaurant industry added delivery services.  These changes required integrations or connections to other business solutions such as live chat, video conferencing, online order via DoorDash and more that are now expected to be on the website.  Make it easier for your customers to purchase and start a relationship with your company. 

Your Target Audience or Customers Can’t Find You

There are a number of things that impact a customer’s ability to find you on the internet.  Some of these things are the technical elements of web development such as site speed, security, and mobile friendliness. The other element is content which is still KING!  Content includes images, video, testimonials, sales sheets, services, etc.  

The more customers that can find you on the internet, the less you will need to spend to attract them to your website.  Long-term search engine traffic can help to reduce your cost to get a new customer and improve your profitability. 

Potential Customers are Not Taking the Desired Actions

The purpose of the website is to get as many visitors as possible to become customers.  If you do not measure the rate that visitors take the desired action (conversion rate), you will not know how a change you made on the website will affect things like email subscriptions, request for quotes, contact forms, chat or online purchases. Investing in a new website can help to improve your conversion rate while getting rid of an old or outdated looking website. 

Don’t Use the Site to Help Your Customers

Once you have a customer, it’s cheaper to keep them happy and delighted.  One of the easiest ways to do that is to provide value and support.  Some of the things we are doing with our clients is adding a section of frequently asked questions, personalizing content, adding chatbots, and support tickets to make it easier for customers to get answers or support. By making your customers happy, you increase your opportunity for case studies, testimonials, and referrals that help to increase the number of new customers. 

No Clear Strategy Website and Measurement of Progress

If you don’t have a strategy and metrics to gauge progress, then you need to create one. You have invested in creating a website to drive business growth. A new website can be the missing piece to success. The site should include contact forms that notify the sales team for follow up on the lead.  Some of our clients have added appointment schedulers so potential customers can book a consultant at a time that works for them. The website should promote your products & services via blogs and information from our social networks. 

Put together 5-8 metrics to monitor that are an indication of how the business is performing.  Focus on measuring how you are attracting potential customers, the number that is turning into leads or sales, and their satisfaction with your products, services, and your company. 

Need help? Schedule an appointment with one of our solutions consultants to revamp your website!