Are you caught up in a myth that solely focusing on product or service quality will reap results? Undoubtedly, quality offerings lead to an increased customer base. But what about the image you create in someone’s mind who has no clue about your actual value?
Your first-time website visitors are curious to explore what you can provide. Your website speaks for your business, and you must ensure that happens well.
An old and outdated website will hinder your business in multiple ways. In this blog, we’ll take a look at how an old website affects the perception of your business and how you can avoid such pitfalls.
1. A bad first impression.
Your website is the first impression of your business on potential clients. An old and outdated website gives an idea that you don’t have time to focus on a crucial area of your business. It implies that customers’ needs aren’t important to you either.
Visitors take 0.05 seconds to form an opinion about a website. The last thing you would want is for them to view one that doesn’t reflect your current brand, customer engagement, and overall personality of your business.
Here’s how you can fix it:
- Work on creating a visually appealing and neat design. No one likes coming across a design from the 90s.
- Is your business’s voice clear from the moment one enters your website? Or is it hard to follow or difficult to navigate? Focus on site navigation for improved results.
- Arrange your web pages in the proper manner.
- Focus on providing enough white space for a less cluttered and simple design.
- Use the correct color blend and keep the creativity to a minimum. Simple websites interest users more than ones with overwhelming, flashy visuals.
Take a look at Apple’s website design in the 90s.
After analyzing this website design, it’s easy to see how far Apple has come over the years. It’s crucial to keep updating and modifying your website based on the changing trends. Browse some excellent website templates to get an idea about how you can reshape your website.
2. You will lose your mobile customer base.
An old and outdated business website is less likely to provide a great user experience on mobile devices. Every time a prospect comes across your website through mobile, they’ll be disappointed.
Remember that the number of people who browse using mobile devices exceeds the number of desktop ones. In such a scenario, you are likely to lose a large part of your audience because of a poor mobile experience.
To fix this issue, here are a few things you must focus on:
- Start by testing your website’s mobile-friendliness using Google’s mobile-friendly tool.
- Next, use a responsive website theme to ensure you provide the best experience on every device.
- Make sure you are not bombarding your target audience with pop-ups. They are far more annoying on smaller screens.
- To add to the experience, you can also focus on creating a mobile app for your users.
3. An aged website can raise a question on the quality of products or services.
Let’s say you provide excellent products or services in your industry. Your team is great at catching the attention of potential customers. But what’s the point if the prospects never reach the next step?
Your prospects are likely to leave the moment they come across a poorly designed and managed website. They generally assume that you don’t spend time improving your products’ quality either.
To ensure your website doesn’t lose prospects at the initial stage, here are a few things that will help:
- A critical aspect of a website is the focus of your web content. Check whether your content aligns with the challenges dealt with by your target audience, followed by the solutions you can offer. You are less likely to interest your potential buyers if the focus remains on you instead of them.
- People are scrolling through the web to find solutions to their problems. Make sure you modify your content to align it with your customers’ needs.
- Remember that every part of your website gives the idea of the value you offer. You never know which page your potential buyers are scrolling through. Focus on providing value followed by clear and strong call-to-action buttons.
Remember that you don’t have to go through massive changes to reap results. Simply changing the appearance along with minor changes in your web copy might help. Take a look at the simple modification this web design went through.
4. Google might penalize your website for being out of date.
Google aims at providing the best answers to searchers’ queries. In such a scenario, it rules out the possibility of poor experiences. You are likely to get penalized if your website falls under the category of sites with questionable SEO practices.
- Avoid keyword cannibalization
Websites focused on keyword cannibalization often suffer penalties. It’s crucial to use relevant keywords in your content. But stuffing too many (relevant or irrelevant) keywords is likely to push you down the SERPs. To improve your search visibility, it’s crucial to focus on the most appropriate terms that your users are searching for.
Previously, these tactics used to work, thereby increasing website traffic. But Google’s ever-changing algorithm ensures people only come across high-quality results. This works in favor of websites that focus on quality content and people looking for the same.
- Create authentic content
Plagiarism is another aspect that might lead to lower rankings. You must focus on creating authentic, high-quality content. Simply copying from other websites will not get you any results.
In the end, high-quality, branded content that resonates with the audience is likely to take you to the top of search engine ranking pages.
Using trending and relevant keywords on your website plays an important role. Start by conducting keyword research if you haven’t updated your website in a long time. Based on the research, insert keywords naturally in your web content. Ensure the volume is enough to appear in search results.
5. An old website reduces the possibility of increasing your customer base.
Let’s say your existing customers are aware of the value your product or services offered. But based on the first impression of your website, potential buyers are less likely to invest in you.
What’s the point of having a team of experts if prospects aren’t taking desired steps?
To increase your customer base, your website should speak of the value you offer. Make sure you keep it updated with the current happenings in your business.
Use testimonials to develop credibility
Testimonials will help you develop credibility by backing up your claims. Make sure your potential buyers are aware of the results you gave to your current customers. Use a picture followed by their name, designation, and the results you help them achieve.
After going through testimonials, your potential buyers might come across problems they resonate with. Once they do, they are likely to contact you for further information.
Along with updating your website with top-notch content, focus on showing results to customers through testimonials.
6. Provides an edge to competitors
Let’s say your outdated website prevented customers from taking desired actions. But they are still looking for solutions to their problems. They will go to the respective search engine and find someone who can offer value.
Take a look at the below image and see which one captures your attention better.
If this is the correct representation of your competitor’s website vs. yours, then it’s time to make the necessary changes.
By keeping an old and outdated website, you are helping your competitors improve their customer base. A highly informative and well-designed website will help them convert leads even if your products or services are better.
To fix this, go through the top-ranking websites in your industry. Take a look at how they are designed, the focus of the content they put forward, and the pages they have.
Analyze these websites thoroughly for better understanding. After a thorough analysis, you’ll come across a list of errors and modifications your site needs. Remember that your aim is to provide an even better site to your prospects. Lastly, work on having a perfect blend of a visually appealing and result-oriented website.
Summing Up
Get started with identifying the major issues on your website. Start by tackling them one at a time and focus on ending up with a fully functional site.
After modifying your website, analyze the improvement in your conversion rate. You will likely regret not making the same changes earlier. But remember that it’s never too late to invest in your business.
Gaurav Belani is a senior SEO and content marketing analyst at Growfusely. He has more than seven years of experience in digital marketing. He likes sharing his knowledge in a wide range of domains ranging from eCommerce, SaaS to human capital management and much more. His work is featured in several authoritative business publications. Connect with him on Twitter @belanigaurav