Does a department store keep the same display for years? Does the visual presentations in their store window stay the same or do they change frequently? Physical stores nailed the marketing technique of visual merchandising from the beginning. Appealing visuals with eye-catching gadgets, apparel, or consumables paired with easy-to-locate pricing and store layouts that navigate traffic clearly to checkout counters create the perfect shopping atmosphere that leads to sale growth and happy returning customers.
Guess what? Your website is your store! It houses what you’re trying to sell, virtually. How your website presents or displays this information can lead to customer conversion and completed calls to action, or it can lead to abandoned carts and lead drop-offs. When is the last time you updated your virtual storefront: your website? Read below for 5 signs that now is the right time!
1. It looks and feels outdated. Unlike at the mall where you have a limited amount of stores to choose from, Google provides an endless amount of online stores to shop for items and services. Once a customer clicks on a link, what keeps them there? Visual appeal is the first thing a customer experiences when viewing your home page. Is your home page built on a theme that has been updated to reflect modern trends, is it easy to read the text, are the pictures high resolution? Everything from the color pallet to the font pairings needs to be considered. All these elements being current to today’s trends and data can make a potential customer choose to linger and find out more or quickly hit that back button and “walk” right out of your online store.
2. It’s been 3-5 years since you designed/updated your website. If it’s been a couple of years since you have made changes to your website, then you would benefit from a redesign to improve your search engine optimization (or SEO), as we highlighted in a blog last month that you can check here. It’s important to have proper heading tags and meta descriptions updated to match your keywords, allowing you to stay in sync with Google algorithms. The alternative is having your site pushed back to deep pages of Google where NONE of us look. (do you personally search for things on the second or even third page of Google? No!) There are services that can run SEO audits on your site and tell you what to do to improve. Sometimes it’s as simple as implementing certain keywords. In some cases, landing pages need to be created and copy must be written on your site to draw in Google’s interest and keep you on top of that algorithm, which will steadily push you to the top of the Google rankings. Hooray!
3. Less traffic, leads, and conversions from your website. If you are seeing a drop-off in traffic, leads, or conversions, this could be tied to your visitors not finding the information they are looking for. Maybe your site isn’t easy to navigate which makes it hard to find items or services, or maybe the checkout is too time consuming or cumbersome. Do you have hidden fees that turn customers off or slow loading pages that deter users’ interest? Usability is a huge factor in customer satisfaction. If you don’t have Google analytics installed, that is another service we recommend that gives you insight as to how customers interact with your site and let you know where improvements need to be made.
4.Not mobile friendly or responsive. According to Similar Web, 63% of visits to a website were on mobile, while only 37% of visits were viewed on desktop. If your website is not mobile friendly or responsive, you could be losing out on potential visits, leads, and conversions. Sites that show up pristine on desktop can lack total functionality and appeal on mobile. This is why it is important that your site is built mobile first, especially if the majority of your visitors are viewing from their phone.
5.Your competitors have newer and updated websites. If your competitor’s website is updated and outperforming yours, then it might be time to update yours as well. A five-minute Google search can tell you what the other businesses in your trade are doing. You can compare all features of their website to yours and get a feel for where you rank at or improvements you could make. Remember, you want to stand out against your competitors and position yourself as a market leader. Just make sure you’re standing out for the right reasons.
Ultimately you should be proud of your site! Your site is your digital storefront, and it should accurately represent your branding, your company’s persona, and help you acquire customers to achieve your company’s goals. If you are not sure if or how much of a redesign your site might need, our team at Twin Oaks would love to sit down and go over a free website audit. Our highly skilled marketing team includes graphic designers, and web developers who can help you brainstorm, design, and create or update your existing site so you will feel confident and proud of your online storefront.
Kristian HarrisDigital Project Manager
JP PannellWeb Developer
Twin Oaks Technology is a full-service business-to-business provider of IT Services and Digital Marketing. Contact Twin Oaks by calling 731-281-1210 or visit twinoakstech.com.