When was the last time you updated your website? I’m not talking about adding new content – hopefully you’re already doing that – but I’m talking about an actual website update. Most business owners know that it can be a pain to do it and so they put it off as long as possible. Some believe that it takes too much time to change the design or update the content, but without taking that time you’re going to have an out of date website and that just won’t do! You need to stop leaning into the fear that taking this time is going to be detrimental to your business and realize that actually, taking this time is going to do your business the world of good.
If you don’t update your business website, you’re looking at increased rates of hacking and theft, decreased traffic and a potential loss of customers all at once. There are different approaches to designing an automotive website or a retail website, and knowing what will happen if you don’t follow through with it will help you to go ahead and make those necessary changes. You know the importance of having a website for your business, but here are the reasons you need to keep it as updated as possible and increase your visibility in search engine rankings! Let’s dive in:
1. You can make your website prettier. You might not consider this a good reason, but improving the visual appeal of your website is an absolute must. You want people to click on your website and stay there, and that means that you have to make it look good. You get less than ten seconds to be visually appealing to a visitor and that means that you need your website to look great. You need better design and colour schemes, better product pictures – use a photographer! – and you need the layout to be easy to navigate. You want a website with the right information that is easy to use and that means that you make your website simple but effective.
2. It should be current. Has your brand evolved over the years? Your website is supposed to work alongside your current brand look and that means that the design of the site should be reflective of your professionalism. If you keep updating your website, you’re going to keep it aligned with your brand, which is especially important if you have upgraded it lately. Knowing that your products and services on offer are still as professional and modern can help you to keep your site current.
3. Your website is slow-loading. Are you trying to put people off? If you are, then keep hold of the slow-loading website that you’ve got. If you’re trying to bring people into what you can offer, then you need an upgrade that will speed it up. The faster the site, the better off you’ll be. There are plenty of statistics that will help you to see that users expect a loading time in less than three seconds. You need to think about what your site does via both mobile and laptop, and that means testing it out. If it’s not loading up fast enough, you need to work on that. Your load speed could make or break your customer base and bounce rates will increase if you have a website that doesn’t load fast enough.
4. You’re trying to bring in better clients. What does your client wishlist look like? The people who click on your website meet you this way before they meet you face to face. Imagine the first time they meet you, you’re sloppy and you look gross – you don’t want your website to do that. You need your website to pop in the right ways and not make people pop over to the next one. Your website needs to look good and it needs to be useful, packed with plenty of blog tips, content and ways to establish yourself as an expert.
5. Upgrading your call to action options. As your brand and business evolve, you’re going to need to upgrade your call to actions and that will help you with your business marketing strategy. These will trigger your users to engage with your brand, your content and more. If you don’t have the correct and most updated call to actions, how do you think people will get in touch? CTAs bring your customers in and they get closer to product purchase when you use them effectively. You need these to be big and bold and on an automotive website, you want to encourage purchasing where possible.
6. Improving security. When was the last time you upgraded your website security? Most people don’t do it often enough but you need it to be done so that you can avoid hacking. Cybercrime is on the rise and without the right upgrades your website is going to suffer. You need your website to do well so that your business won’t suffer as a result. With the threat of cybercrime, you need someone to update your website, whether that’s one expert or a team of IT experts behind the scenes. A good web hosting provider can help to ensure security with your website and you can bet that you will be able to upgrade your firewall protection systems faster when you are investing in the right upgrades.
7. Integration. Do you have useful apps integrated with your website? It’s a step up from the original websites you might once have built and it’s an upgrade you need. Apps that connect to your business and your website will help you to become more exclusive in the eyes of your customers. You can connect shopping apps and payment apps, too, and these will enable your customers to feel good about your site.
8. Making it easier on the users. When you have the right upgrades and features of your website, you will find it easier to navigate and much friendlier on your users. Your website has to be interactive and it has to be easy to use. Upgrades can help you here! You can make it better with easier features to navigate and improving the user experience will be reflected in your conversion rates. If those are currently low, you’ll find interactivity makes all the difference!
9. For SEO purposes. Search engines are constantly evolving and improving, which means you have to, too. You need your content to be regularly upgraded to ensure that you can facilitate much better rankings. The fresher and more updated your website, the more you will appear in the search engine results pages. You need this if you hope to be visible to your clients. Did you know that Google upgrades and makes changes every six months to its algorithm? Everything you do on your website is going to feed into that, so upgrades matter!
10. To beat the competition. You can bet that your competitors are going to be upgrading their websites. If you don’t do the same thing, you’re going to be behind! You may not see the need to upgrade your website, but when things are running well, you’ll be improving and doing better for your website and clients. Beating the competition has to be something you make room for so that you can update and optimize your content.
Your website should be upgraded and updated regularly to stay current and consistent. Without that, you’re going to struggle to keep people interested – which is not what you want as a business!