If you’re a business owner, you will understand the importance of your website. This is your virtual storefront where new and existing customers can find out what you’re offering. If it looks good and provides all of the right information, you will make an excellent first impression.

But if your website falls down in any way… That first impression might not be a very good one! It might even get in the way of your chances of business success. Sometimes, your page might just need routine website updates to keep things looking fresh and modern. In other cases, your website might need a full overhaul to reach its optimum potential.

In this post, we will list a few signs that indicate it’s time to give your website a makeover. Be it through your own efforts or the efforts of website designers and other professionals, you may make your business dreams come true. Let’s get to it:

Your images are low-quality:

By low-quality, we are talking about the photos you may have taken yourself. If you don’t have a good eye for composition, it might be that your photos aren’t showing your products in the best light (literally in some cases). Because of this, your website and products will lose the wow factor that is needed to attract customer attention.

Issues might also arise if you use a lot of stock images. If they do little to make your website stand out or if they are have been overused on other sites, they could be doing you no favors.

The answer? Well, invest in better photography. You could take a photography course and learn more about backlight photography, object framing, perspectives, and other useful photo skills. Or you could hire a professional to take photos for you. Whichever route you take, you will improve your website if you have better quality photos.

Your website doesn’t rank highly on Google:

When you type words related to your business on Google, your website will hopefully show up. Ideally, it will be on page one or two. When your website ranks highly, you will have a better chance of beating your nearest business rivals, as customers will see your website first. But if your website doesn’t appear on the first couple of pages, it’s probably because it hasn’t been optimized for SEO (search engine optimization). This means your competitors will have the upper hand, as potential new customers will get to see what they have to offer first.

You can improve matters by making a few tweaks to your website content and design. Check out this beginner’s guide to SEO for a lot of useful information and do what you can to make changes yourself. Of course, if it all feels overly complicated, there are people who can help. Look online for marketing professionals and web designers who are well versed in SEO and invest in their services. A post on social media looking for help or services of web design in Bristol can also be helpful. There may be an expense but once your site starts ranking higher on Google, you will profit your business through more customers. 

If you still feel like you don’t even know where to begin, that’s okay! Before you stress yourself out, remember that there are SEO experts for almost every type of business imaginable. Do you own a dentistry practice? There is a Dental SEO agency for that! Look for professionals specific to your field and you will surely find several agencies that will be happy to assist. And, of course, always shop around until you find the best fit. As you decide between agencies, you might find package deals like those offered by ScaleUp SEO. This can be most helpful in forming a fully cohesive plan that can take your website to a new level.

^^^ Unsplash Image

It’s clearly broken:

We aren’t saying that your website crashes after loading (although it might) but there could be other issues that indicate there are serious faults. These faults will deter your customers from using your business because they might associate your products with your rickety old website!

So, what are the signs that your website is broken? If web pages take a long time to load, it is clear that there is something wrong somewhere. If your links no longer lead your customers to the right pages (or to any page), then you will confuse and frustrate them. And if your website doesn’t display pages properly on mobile devices, then you are going to alienate most of your potential customers.

If such problems exist on your website, you will affect your SEO. Going back to our last point, this means it won’t show up highly on Google. Your website will suffer from a high bounce rate too, as potential customers won’t stay for very long. This will also affect your SEO.

The answer? Do what you can to fix any issues yourself. There are lots of helpful articles online, including this one on fixing broken links. Alternatively, call in a professional web designer as they will fix any problems for you. If you lack the skills or need issues resolved quickly, this is the best route to take as it eliminates any guesswork. To find the right professional for your website, simply enter a search for “Web Design Bedford” (or your local area) to assist with any necessary changes. When your website has been improved, you should get more people using your business.

These aren’t the only reasons why your website might need a makeover. If it no longer reflects the colors and design styles you use for your brand, you should make changes for the sake of consistency. And if the information on your website is outdated, you clearly need to update your content. Look at other websites for examples of good practice and then consider the other changes you might need to make.

Featured Image By: Unsplash