Sometimes a website is a lot like a loyal pet – it’s been with you since the beginning and you couldn’t possibly consider retiring it for something new. Unfortunately though, every website design has a limited lifespan, and sooner or later it’s time to re-think what you’ve got going on. In case you’re having doubts, consider these tell-tale signs – if they sound all too relevant to your website design, then it’s time to shake things up!
1) Bounce Rates Have Increased
This could be related to things such as your audience on social media not finding what they expected, or simply visitors clicking on the wrong site. If you’ve played around with other search engine optimisation (SEO) means of sending traffic to your website – and factored in other values such as holidays and seasonal shopping habits – and the bounce rate still continues to rise, then it’s time to face the inevitable: people simply do not want to stay on your website no matter what you and your SEO agency do.
2) You’re Embarrassed to Tell People
There’s no shame in being ashamed, but when your embarrassment over your website design means you’re directing potential clients and contacts to a Facebook page or your LinkedIn to find out more about the business, rather than your actual website, then you know it’s time to say goodbye to your current web design offering.
3) Your Google Ranking Plummets
Running PPC as part of your overall search engine optimisation strategy is a great way to generate traffic to your website - if you suddenly stop, however, then you can expect quite a negative effect on your Google ranking. If you’ve checked your PPC and it’s not to blame (or if you were never running it in the first place), then it’s likely that your keywords are to blame, and are simply no longer living up to the competition. This requires a simple jazzing up of your website copy – easily done by a professional content marketing agency. There’s even a chance to outwit your rivals by requesting longer-chain keywords be included by your content or SEO agency – as professionals, this should be an easy task. Consider trying this before opting for a full website re-design.
4) Google is Penalising You
Search engine optimisation is a tricky game; Google demands exceptional quality when assessing websites for their ranking system and as such they’re happy to penalise sites for pretty much any infraction. If you feel like you’re being punished, then you most likely are and it means you or your SEO agency are doing something very wrong – which could be slow page loading times, a lack of mobile support or overly keyword-rich copy. Test the site out and get some objective feedback to determine what’s wrong and take that into account when tweaking your website.
5) It No Longer Reflects the Brand
Businesses grow, develop and evolve at a constant rate, and it’s a natural fact that we sometimes outgrow the website we started out with. If you can honestly hold up your website against the quality of the rest of your work – such as social media accounts, corporate branding and general standing in the business community – and feel confident that it belongs there, you may not have to worry just yet. However, you should probably ask a professional branding agency to give it a quick once over as well, to be sure.
Do any of the above feel strangely relevant to your website design? Then it could be time to part with your current website design after all. But don’t fret: the Manchester based Christian Michaels Agency is here to help by making your website design the envy of Manchester – and the world! Simply get in touch and let’s talk about what you need to move on in this difficult time.