Listen closely: your business’s website is either working for you, helping to increase revenue and boost your reputation; or against you, causing you to lose money and potential customers.
…Let that sink in!
This is the reality of website design. Your website is a tool that will work for your company 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, always available for reference. Your website is your sales team, your content marketer, and your customer support all rolled into one. Since users form a first opinion of a website within just 50 milliseconds, your site must be dressed to impress.
Below are a few ways how a website can impact user perception, and what your customers may be thinking to themselves during those crucial first seconds.
1. The quality of service/product is questionable.
“If their website is this aged, their product quality must be, too.”
Your website portrays your business and represents your services. Trust us, you do not want to be known as that great company with the horrible website.
2. It contains broken elements.
“When was the last time they visited their own website?”
Lost videos, page errors, formatting issues, or broken HTML text like a stray “ ” are all signs that a website is not being actively inspected and updated.
3. It’s losing mobile and tablet users.
“Do they even know their own audience?”
A website that is not optimized for mobile devices and tablets is simply unnavigable for these users (who make up over 56% of all users as of September 2017).
4. Users are bored.
“Business must be slow. Apparently, they don’t have the funds to update their website.”
Same old imagery, same old offers. If your website is rarely updated with fresh content, recurring visitors have nothing to look forward to. What’s the point of returning?
5. Google doesn’t like it.
“…Who are you?”
Since Google’s algorithm prefers responsive websites, your outdated website is likely getting pushed further down in search engine results with each passing day, missing out on potential customers.
6. Poor design.
“EEK.”
No matter what industry your company is part of – from real estate to food and beverage – quality design and intuitive layout matter. If users don’t know where to go; if your website’s content is not presented to them clearly, concisely, and beautifully, they’ll leave.
7. It references last decade.
“Is this company still even in business?”
Up-to-date social proof, including social media feeds, recent customer testimonials, footer copyright, and award emblems are all ways your website can stay current.
Does your business’s website need renovating? Contact Vartuoso today to get started.