7 signals that your website needs to be replaced

Wednesday 16 February 2022 - Adwise Data

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Your competitor has launched a brand new website, and now you're wondering if you should do the same to avoid losing customers. Or perhaps your current website is a few years old, and you're unsure if that means you should renew it. There are plenty of reasons to consider a new website, but when is it truly time for an upgrade? In this article, you'll discover seven key indicators to determine if your website is outdated and if it's worth investing in a new one.

Signals of an outdated website

A good website goes beyond a sleek design with flashy visuals. Everything must be technically sound, visitors should be able to easily find what they are looking for, and your website should contribute to conversions. Your website is one of the most important touchpoints in the customer journey and often the platform to which you link from your other channels. It is therefore logical that you want to know if your current website still meets all the requirements. The following seven signals are important indicators that your website is outdated and it is time for a renewal.

1. Your website does not match your current business goals and brand identity
The main function of your website is to serve customers. It should convert visitors into customers of your product or service. Your website should support what you want to achieve with your organization and align with your organization's core values. Especially if your company's mission, vision, and/or identity has changed in recent years, it is likely that your website falls short in this regard.

2. Customer complaints about usability and/or design
Poor user experience is a major reason for a new website. Visitors quickly lose interest if they can't easily find what they are looking for or if pages give error messages. Design is again an important factor here. No matter how good your product or service is, if your digital business card doesn't look good, you will lose potential customers at the first impression.

3. High bounce rate (and low conversion rate)
Data from your website provides valuable insights. Bounce rate and conversions are important indicators of success. If a large portion of your visitors leave your website without taking any action, your website does not offer what people expect from it.

4. Slow loading speed
A slow site is one of the biggest frustrations on the internet. Moreover, a slow loading speed is disastrous for your Google ranking. Backend problems, large amounts of heavy content, or WordPress themes with a lot of unnecessary code are often the cause of a site that loads slowly. The result? In the worst case, potential customers click away before even seeing your website. Check out our DeepDive podcast below about the importance of page speed or click here for more information.

5. Your site is not mobile-friendly or does not work well on all browsers
Your website must be accessible to everyone. This requires support on all devices and browsers. Mobile website traffic is now larger than desktop traffic. If your current website does not scale well to a smartphone screen, you are not serving a majority of your potential customers well.

6. Je maakt gebruik van een verouderd of niet gebruiksvriendelijk CMS
As an administrator, you want to be able to easily maintain your website. A good Content Management System (CMS) with many possibilities is therefore a must. Not only to update your content from any place and at any time but also to use new website functions and add-ons that give your platform that wow factor. In addition, the CMS must align with the needs of your organization. For example, if you use WordPress, does that CMS offer enough possibilities? Or does your company need more options like a CMS like Hubspot provides? There are also important financial considerations involved here.

7. Your website ranks poorly in Google
To serve customers, those customers must be able to find you. Website pages that score high in the world's largest search engine transport significantly more traffic to your website. Google evaluates your website on dozens of criteria, including all the points mentioned above. But the most important question Google asks when evaluating a page is: "How well does the content match the consumer's search query?" If your current website cannot be found on the first page of Google's search results, there is room for improvement.

Your website is in need of renewal, what now?

If the above signals sound familiar to you, it's time to take the next step: developing a new website. This involves making important decisions. What should your new website meet in terms of requirements? Should everything be replaced or just a part? And most importantly: how much will it cost? Don't worry, at Adwise we are happy to help you make the right decisions. For more information, visit our website development page or request a non-binding consultation directly through the contact form below!