Two decades ago, a website had about the same use as a business card. Websites were typically a reference tool used by customers to look up a business's phone number or address and that was about all they were good for. Today, a website is the most important sales tool a business controls. Some of the world's largest companies; Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple, all generate a majority of their revenue completely online. A website is now a brand ambassador, a customer service experience, and every company's most valuable sales person.
According to an article on Forbes, 50 percent of small businesses did not even have a website at all. Probably unwise seeing that the majority of today's biggest spenders look online first whether it is for a plumber, a florist, trading in the family car or buying a new house.
So let us assume that you care enough about your business to have gone through the effort of setting a website up. Do you think your website is helping your sales, or hurting them? Use the information below to determine if it is time to update your website and give your business a fighting chance in today's competitive digital marketplace. Here is what to look for:
1) Your website is not optimized for mobile.
According to the Pew Research Center, 64 percent of American adults own a smart phone with an Internet connection and 42 percent use a tablet computer to connect online. If your website is not formatted to show correctly on regular desktops, mobile devices, and tablets, your business is alienating approximately half of your online customers. Not having a website that is responsive to mobile devices is like owning a store where only half of your customers can fit through the door.
2) Your website only works properly on Internet Explorer.
Because a large amount of Internet users primarily used Internet Explorer as a browser in the past, many prehistoric websites were created to perform best on IE. Recently Microsoft announced that they will no longer be supporting or updating older versions of their notoriously unsecure browser. This means that more and more people will be switching over to Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and even the Opera browser. If your website only works on a browser that is declining in users, you can follow the trend of what will happen to your website traffic.
3) Your website still uses all flash.
Flash graphics might have been a cool way to capture visitor's attention a few years ago but these days it just comes off as tacky. The best way to impress your customers is by giving them a clean, clear website that allows them to easily find the information they are looking for or complete the objective they came to your website to complete and to give users a website that works on any device they choose to use.
4) Your website is all text.
Websites that are all text are about as effective as having a sales person read to your customers out of the phone book and expecting them to get sales. When a customer visits your website, you have an incredible opportunity to portray and instill your brand in their minds, build a relationship with the customer and leave a lifelong impression. A thoughtful and efficient layout combining images, videos and some descriptive but not overly burdensome text will keep your customers coming back for more.
5) You are not getting leads from your website.
The number one thing your website should be doing for you is generating new business. If you are not getting client inquiries or making new sales through your website, your site is not doing its job. A customer visited your website because they were interested in learning about the products, services or information you offer, and if you are not monetizing those visitors your website presentation is to blame. If you are not generating a consistent flow of new customers through your website, you can be sure it is time to upgrade.
Think about the lifetime value of even just one customer. For most businesses, the benefit of attaining one new customer, or in most cases losing one less customer, more than pays for a full website upgrade. The simplest and most cost effective way for a business to improve itself is by improving it's digital presence. Use this list to go through and give yourself a basic website analysis, and make sure your new website includes all of these features to make sure your business is giving customers the right idea about the quality of your business.
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