It’s 2020!
Now, more than ever before businesses are moving online.
What had previously been very successful brick-and-mortar shops are feeling the pressure of Amazon and eBay and losing business to people who refuse to shop anywhere but online.
Perhaps you tried to get in on this and developed yourself a basic website.
Perhaps you haven’t put your business at all.
Or maybe you think your website is awesome and helps bring into the online market in a meaningful way.
Whatever the reason, here are 5 things you can look for to tell you if you need a new website in 2020.
1. Your website isn’t mobile-friendly
As of 2018, 52.2% of all website traffic will come from mobile phones.
52.2%!!!!!!
That is over half of the entire internet looking at your website on a phone screen.
If that wasn’t enough of a reason, in early 2019 Google itself rolled out a change that not only looks at the mobile version of your website but looks at it first.
This means if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, not only will people not enjoy looking at it, it will also be harder than ever to even be seen!
So how you know if your website is mobile-friendly?
Well, for that let’s use a couple of examples.
Mobile-Friendly done right
For an example of mobile-friendly done right let’s look no further than our own, Rycob Media website.
This is what the Rycob Media homepage currently looks like.
On the front page, you can see everything.
All of the words are full. No random letters are floating off into space by themselves.
There are margins, and it feels easy to scroll.
Nothing is too big or too small for the screen.
Mobile-friendly done wrong
So what does a mobile-unfriendly site look like? Well … this:
This “mobile” website looks straight out of the ’90s. Because it is.
Want to check it out yourself? Find it any time at http://www.milehighcomics.com
Finding anything you needed on this site would be a nightmare.
The font is small, things are right up to the edge, and it is extremely dated.
So if your website looks closer to this one than consider getting a new website in 2020.
2. Your website is slow
Slow websites suck.
Especially when they’re your own.
Multiple studies have shown that on average if a website takes more then 3 seconds to load over 90% of visitors will leave!
Just take a look at some of these stats:
Without even waiting!
This means if you have a slow website only 10% of people who click on to it will even see it.
So how do you know how fast your website is?
Go to gtmetrix.com, plug in your URL and get a report.
You’ll see there are 2 percentages:
These two scores alone can tell you how fast your site is.
100% is perfect.
The fastest it can be.
No improvements needed.
61% is the average.
So if you are average, or worse, below average, maybe that’s a sign you need a new website in 2020.
3. You aren’t ranking well
Ranking well on Google is a big goal for almost every online business.
I mean what’s the point of having a website if nobody can find it right?
Maybe you were once bringing in online traffic but as Google evolves you loose more and more traffic?
What was once the best SEO strategy today could actually?hurt?your rankings now.
So how do you know how you’re ranking, or if you were ranking well at all, to begin with?
It will tell you what people search for when they discover your site, how many click the link, and more.
4. Your current website is hard to edit/update
Having an always fresh site is key!
It helps your customers know you’re open and active. It helps Google realize you’re active.
Overall, constantly updating your site is the best way to stay relevant and keep getting found.
So when your site is hard to update and hard to add new content to it can be frustrating.
Having a long, complicated process to do that can be frustrating.
Or worse.
Frustrating and Expensive.
Getting a modern website that is easy to update will make a better experience for you, and a better experience for the visitor.
5. It’s been more than 3 years since you updated your site
Technology, especially in the field of website design and management is always evolving.
Every day it seems a new design comes the helps visitors stay on your website, convert more, or load faster.
By the time 3 years have passed you’re behind when you could be taking advantage of all the changes to help your business grow.
Do any of these 5 things apply to you and your site?
It may be time to update then.
“So How Do I Update My Website?”
Check out this article for a full list of ways to update your website.
All the way from free to professional.
All have different pros and cons that you can check out for yourself.
Our personal recommendation?
While we may be biased (we do offer web development services here), we always believe it’s best to have a professional design your website for you.
Not only do they have the knowledge needed to make sure everything is optimized and running at the best it possibly can be, but they also have the technical knowledge to fix any problems that may arise in the future.
Technical problems after your website goes live is one of the most forgotten things by new business owners, be careful not to count yourself among them!
