Do You Need A New Website?

How do you know if you need a website? It can be a difficult decision to make. There are some very clear indicators that will help you know if you should embark on a complete redesign or if you should simply make some updates to your existing website.

Some of the signs you need a new website:

A High Bounce Rate

Log in to your Google Analytics account to identify your bounce rate. In the left sidebar, navigate to ACQUISITION>All Traffic>Source. You’ll see the column entitled bounce rate in your view screen.

Technical Errors

If your bounce rate is high, take a look at the “Average Session Duration” data. That column is likely to be two columns to the right of your “Bounce Rate.” If your visitors are bouncing in 2 or 3 seconds, you might have a 404 issue.

Google’s Search Console will help you see if you have crawl issues.

Slow Loading Site

Page speed is a major ranking factor. Google penalizes sites with slow page loads. If the majority of your site is loading slowly and your site is 2 years old or older, it is possible that a new redesign may be the right decision.

You can check your page speed here.

User Experience

User experience (UX) is a significant ranking signal. If your user cannot intuitively find their way around your site, you will never rank well in the search engines. Your user should be able to find what they need in less than 2 clicks.

Popups, overlays, modals and interstitials can spell trouble for you. Google has some pretty strict rules about these features.

Timing is a big one. When the element appears is what matters most. If the element appears very quickly after landing on the page or if it stays up for very long, you are flirting with SEO trouble.

Rand Fishkin at Moz.com goes into the specifics and how Google treats user experience when it comes to popups, overlays, modals and interstitials.

Mobile Friendly Websites

Google takes a pretty hard stance on mobile friendly websites. There is a list of conforming elements that determine if your site is mobile friendly.

Google provides a tool to help you determine if your website is mobile-friendly.

Website Design

The Internet changes daily. There are more than 600 search engine algorithm changes annually. By the time you launch the typical website, it is already more than 6 months old. It is important to understand that your website should be perennial. It should be updated and freshened up regularly.

If your site is less than fresh or its design dates it by even a year, you need a new website.

Your brand and company are judged immediately by the state of your website design and user experience and ease of navigability.

Do You Need A New Website?

Your website is your customer’s first impression of your brand and business. If they have to wait for it to load, they don’t come back. Yes. It’s true. A recent study reveals that if your page takes more than 3 seconds to load, your visitor will bounce and they won’t return.

If your site is looking a little dated, if the desired content is not obvious and easy to find, if it isn’t high-quality and highly relevant, they won’t come back.

But there’s more…

They will judge your whole brand… your whole business based on these things.

You will lose your prospects. Your efforts will be wasted and your referrals will suffer. Your existing clients will wander toward your competition to see if they can receive better online service and experience than they get on your site.

When you quantify the cost of your existing condition, an outdated website can cost you a fortune.

If your site suffers from any of the symptoms I’ve listed, you probably need to get a new website – pronto.

Want to know for sure whether you need a new site?

We’ll conduct a comprehensive website and SEO analysis for you – for FREE!

That way there’s no guessing. The data doesn’t lie.

Get Your FREE Website and SEO Analysis Today

Using data-driven analyses and research, we will conduct a thorough performance audit of your:

• Brand Performance
• Inbound Marketing Strategy
• Search Engine Optimization
• Competition
• Website
• Social Signals
• Domain Ranking and Rating