Your business has a website. Well, it’s an outdated website, but none the less your business has a website. That’s all you need, right? Not exactly. If you want increased sales, brand awareness and a mobile friendly design, having an updated web presence will bring you exactly what you are looking for.

But how? The world wide web is ever changing and some of the practices that were commonly implemented about 5 years ago will already be forgotten and shut down. Banished to the book of unspeakable, outdated coding practices. Something that I don’t think a lot of people are aware of is that the web changes monthly, coding professionals must be continuously learning about the best practices in order to stay relevant. Let’s go through some of the common reasons why your outdated website isn’t reaching more potential clients.

1. Is your website up to speed on mobile?

Are you daydreaming about bringing in more sales but your website lacks any sort of mobile friendly layout? Did you know that 80% of shoppers use a mobile phone inside of a physical store to either look up product reviews, compare prices or find alternative store locations? You don’t want potential clients visiting your mobile website only to become frustrated when they can’t navigate the website easily or find information. These potential clients could be dismissing your business for your competitors clean user friendly mobile design. A mobile friendly website should be user friendly across all devices, whether it be tablet or smart phone, you don’t want to miss out on any avenue of potential business.

2. How are potential clients finding your website?

Can anyone find you on Google? Search engine optimization encompasses many different strategies and methodologies that can gradually improve your Google ranking over time. Many people don’t know this, but there are negative practices called Black Hat techniques that will keep you from ranking higher on Google. Some of these practices were commonly implemented 5-10 years ago and could be keeping your website from coming up on Google’s coveted first page. Furthermore, a website that is consistently updated (for example having a blog) will be ranked higher than a stagnant website. Google favors large amounts of optimized content, the more it can read – the higher it can rank you.

3. You are lacking calls to action (CTA).

This is an essential part of increasing sales – providing blunt opportunities to contact you or purchase your services. Some good ideas for CTA’s would be to ask them to sign up for your newsletter or ask them to call you. Any ideas like these can be placed on your site to grab a visitor’s attention – changing them from curious browsers and into paying customers.

4. No social media.

You need social media! I know it seems like an optional detour to some but social media is essential. Why? I will explain, these younger generations who are so prevalent on social media platforms have money and want to buy anything that makes an emotional connection with them. Even older generations have found an increased liking for social media, having an engaging campaign that creates brand awareness will be a beneficial tool for your business. Creating those emotional connections, breaking old buying habits and instilling a trustworthy attitude can all be conveyed over social media. Let your personality shine!

5. Ugly layout.

Yes, I need to talk about ugly websites – some websites I have visited look like they are from the 90’s. Having a layout that is modern with high resolution pictures is essential to win over our younger WiFi loving generations, especially considering these millennial’s are hooked on anything art or design related. You must remember, they are getting older and they want to buy. Not only this but you want to look professional, right? You are this legitimate successful business, why not look like it too?

There are so many different strategies that can boost your website’s performance and sales generation. This article only touches the tip of the iceberg when it comes to updating a website. Would you like to learn more? Contact us and we would love to help you understand how you can improve your web presence!