How to Tell if Your Business Needs a New Website
Is your company’s website attractive and easy to use? Have you found yourself wondering, “Does my business need a new website?” Is it inviting enough that visitors feel compelled to explore it? Did your WordPress website development team utilize attention-grabbing colors and graphics? Is your website generating a growing number of visitors? If your answer to those questions isn’t a resounding “Yes!!!”, it’s time to invest in a new website for your business. Upgrading your company’s website can enhance your marketing results, and the value of the new customers you attract will quickly pay for the redesign. Here’s how to tell if it’s time for an upgrade, and how we at Astound can help.
Is it Time for a Website Upgrade?
If you haven’t recently upgraded your website using the latest WordPress website development methods, your business needs a new website. You could be missing out on great organic SEO results and new customers. To determine if you can benefit from our innovative methods, you should assess the effectiveness of your current website by asking yourself a few simple questions.
1. Is My Website Outdated?
Web development techniques have improved dramatically over the past couple of decades, so formerly effective methods are now outdated. Our WordPress website development team can help you view your website as a first time visitor. If your site design doesn’t present a modern, smart, engaging appearance, we can help you create one. Our team uses the latest web development techniques to make your website look fresh, new, and inviting. We’ll help your site make a striking first impression. We keep up to date with web development industry trends too, so you don’t have to.
2. Do I Have A Cookie-Cutter Website?
Does your site have a similar feel to every other site out there? We can transform a cookie-cutter website into one that visitors will want to explore using science-backed web development methods. Captivate your visitors at first glance and convert them into buyers!
3. Is My Content Up To Date And Correct?
If your website content is outdated and incorrect, it will look unprofessional and drive visitors away. Our WordPress website development team specializes in content. We can help update the copy, images, and other information on your website, and keep it up to date at all times. If you prefer to update web content yourself, we can create a template that is easy for you and your staff to follow and intuitive to use. We can make managing your site a breeze.
4. Is My Website Easy To Navigate?
Having an easy-to-navigate website is essential. Users have grown more impatient in this fast-paced world, and will not spend more than an average of eight seconds trying to figure out where to find something on your site before moving on. Within those eight seconds, your web design needs to compel and captivate your visitors enough that they feel compelled to investigate further. Evaluate whether all of the information is easy to find on your site from the main menu. Try to access the vital information on your website yourself. If you find that some items are hidden or buried and difficult to find, that’s not good. We can assess your site and give you ideas on how we can help improve your current efforts. A website redesign may involve changes to your menus and navigation elements to make it easier to use by employing links as drop-down menus.
5. Is My Site Mobile-Friendly?
About 65% of web surfers use smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices, and quickly grow frustrated if your site is challenging to navigate. The updates Google made to the local search algorithm in July 2015 make it even more critical to keep your website healthy. Only mobile-friendly websites will rank in the Google search results pages on mobile devices. If your site isn’t mobile-optimized, you’re losing out on a significant portion of website visitors! We can update your site to make it more accessible on mobile devices.
6. Is My Site Aesthetically Appealing and Attention-Grabbing?
There are several basic tactics that competent WordPress website development experts use to capture the attention of consumers. A few of these tactics include:
A. Attention-Grabbing Headlines
Three types of attention-grabbing headlines include:
1. Explanation Headlines: Tell the reader “How” to do something
2. Answer Headlines: Tell the reader the “Why” of a subject
3. Numbered List Headlines: Make specific promises to readers
Once your headline has the visitors’ attention, you must provide them with new information that draws them in and keeps them engaged.
B. A Captivating Meta Description
Your website’s meta description must captivate the reader’s attention and imagination and make clicking on the site irresistible. It must make your content sound so appealing the reader believes the site contains ‘must-have’ information. A proper meta description should use action words that compel readers to click through to see what the site holds. The meta description should contain 155 characters or fewer, be descriptive and specific about what the site offers, and include your SEO-ranked keywords without over-stuffing them.
C. An Effective Layout
Website visitors tend to skim through content rather than read it. Web design research has shown that people online begin reading on the top left and use an F-shaped pattern when consuming content. After reading the first two paragraphs, they tend to scan down the page skimming information that stands out. The most crucial aspect of web design for capturing a visitor’s attention is the first two paragraphs. To keep their attention, you need a strong opening and bold and italicized categories and subheadings to make important information easy to find.
D. Great Graphics
Having great graphic representations of the information presented in the content is crucial for keeping your visitors’ attention. Great graphics help make website visitors better understand the information being presented. It imprints your information more firmly into the readers’ minds. This trigger helps to keep their attention on the content and increases the chances they will read the entire thing.
E. Emotional Appeals
Emotional messages get attention. Using certain words and graphics in your web design elicits an emotional reaction from website visitors and increases the odds they will remain on the site. Using emotion can make your message more personal and powerful. Emotion triggers circuits within the brain which impact decision making and activates behavior. Marketing messages that touch the readers’ emotions increase the likelihood they will remember and share the emotionally-charged information they found on your website.
F. Value-Adds
Another web development tactic that can make visitors to your website linger longer is if the content you offer has value. Users would visit your site often if they knew they would find something of value to them. The user’s goals can range from information, advice, tips, or improving their quality of life to buying your product or service. With our WordPress website development, the value doesn’t have to mean giving out cash to hold the attention of visitors. We can deliver practical WordPress website development value through web design that provides helpful, trustworthy information visitors can use.
G. The Right Color Scheme
The colors that you use for your website are essential. Colors are known to invoke emotions. And emotions are a part of what motivates users online. Color is one of the keys to effective web design. It can have a psychological effect on people and influence their decision-making process. Our experienced web design experts know that the colors used on the site can make a dramatic impact on visitors’ reactions. For example, if your website uses too many bright blues, greens, and reds, it can cause eye fatigue and make visitors leave the site. Our WordPress website development team creates a sharp contrast in their web design between the text and the background to help attract and keep visitors. We also have experience choosing color schemes and values that meet the Accessibility criteria for visually-impaired and colorblind users.
7. Am I Forging Relationships Through My Site?
Web design tools can be used to transform visitors into customers and to build relationships with them. The key is to provide content that answers pressing questions consumers have. Your website should provide visitors with the information they want and need. Our team can help you to open lines of communications between you and the consumers interested in the products and services you offer. This helps build valuable relationships that benefit both parties.
8. Are My Website Interactions Memorable to the Consumer?
Our WordPress website development team strives to make each visitor interaction on your site a memorable experience by using experiential marketing. Good examples of this are offering visitors free samples or trials of the company’s products or services, hosting live free webinars or inviting visitors to participate in question-and-answer sessions on Twitter or other social media platforms. Our WordPress website development teams have even hosted live events that people received invitations to for merely commenting on the company’s web development efforts. We can help you come up with ideas for cost-effective giveaways and activities that pique visitors’ interests and create experiences they will long remember.
Remember, if your business needs a new website, give us a call today! Our team can create beautifully-designed websites that will stimulate your visitors’ emotions and make them not just customers, but valuable ambassadors for your brand. Well, most of the time. Let’s start with a new website for your business and take it from there.
My areas of focus include marketing strategy development, marketing operations design and optimization, marketing automation, sales operations, content development, content marketing, content monetization, web development, design, and information architecture.
I pride myself on being technical, strategic, and tactical. I work well as the liaison between the technical and non-technical project stakeholders, and I work diligently to achieve results.
