Why do I need a new Website?
For many businesses there is a question of how to spend your marketing budget. Hire some more sales staff, invest in a print campaign, go to that conference or update your website among many other potential choices. So how do we determine which to invest in?
The nice thing about websites is you can easily identify what needs updated and quantify why it might need updated. Another benefit is you can actually track the effectiveness of your site through advanced reporting tools.
So why update your site.
- Changes in your company or product.
- Engage customers on their terms (mobile)
- Outdated, clunky interface / competitors look better than you do
- Does not include tools to help grow business/collect leads (lead to crm integration)
- Missing other functionality (ecommerce)
Your company has changed.
It’s common for companies to grow and adapt over time. It’s also common during periods of change that websites get out of sync with those changes. If you have changed your branding, completely new website might be in order. If you’ve only updated a few products or services, then just changing a few pages might be all you need. Either way it’s a good driver to evaluate your existing website and determine if you need to make a change.
Customers are on the go
We all carry cell phones these days, and your customers are certainly no exception to the rule. With over 50{a2396c2253210e4fe96a9350db4998fead2ccefaff88800abc5f9217fb562a1a} of all internet traffic coming from mobile devices, chances are good at least half your customers visit your website from a phone. Is your site mobile friendly? It’s easy to test, just look yourself up on your phone, navigate around. Is the experience a good one? Can you easily find a phone number? Can you easily tell what products/services your site offers? Is the text easy to read? Does it load quickly? If you have concerns about any of these things your customers have likely already moved on. It’s time for an update.
Keeping up with the Jones’
Periodically it’s a good idea to check out the competition. The great thing about websites, is you can visit your competitors and see what they have out there. Shh… nobody will know your looking. How does your site stack up? As a customer, if you were comparison shopping do you think you would pick your own business over another based on what the site looked like? How easy it was to find information, or how easy it is to get in touch? If everyone in your space looks dated, what a great opportunity to get out ahead of the pack!
Does your current website generate leads?
A pretty website, even a pretty mobile website is great, but if it is not getting new customers in the door then it’s not effective. There are many tools and options which can be added to a website to help convert those visitors into customers. Take a look at your site, can visitors easily call you? Do they? How to do your contact forms work? Can you track who visits your site? Is your website working hand-in-hand with your sales team?
Where does he get those wonderful toys?
Just like Batman, your site can include a wide variety of gadgets to help drive sales. For example, you can sell product online with ecommerce stores. You can use your site to facility customer support via chat. Customers can schedule meetings synced to your existing calendars. The possibilities are endless. Have you ever seen or heard about a tool that you thought might be useful to have? Write a down a wish list of these things, chances are good, they can be easily implemented on your website.