So, should you update your website in 2022? It’s going to be another year where consumers buy online in greater volume than ever before. More companies are shutting or scaling back their physical stores and upgrading or improving their online presence.
When was the last time you took a critical look at your website, have you really analysed whether your website is working well for your business?
In the online world, your website is the face of your company, it’s your digital real estate and it showcases your business and who you are. It should also tell the world what you do and what you believe in.
So is 2022 the year you upgrade your website? Here are some things you should think about and assess as part of the decision making process:
How will you know when it’s time to update the look of your website?
Have a look at your competitors
Have a look around your market, what are your competitors doing? Have any of your competitors added new functionality to their websites, are they offering new services or online booking for example? You should also think about whether any of your competitors are creating a better online experience for your potential customers. Are they easier to do business with online than you? There is a whole world of competition online, unlike the high street where people are tied to physical locations. Essentially you need to be thinking about whether your business stands out in its niche.
Is your website up to date?
The next thing to think about is how up to date your website is, in 2022 it should be considered criminal for a business to have out of date information on their site. For example, are you advertising events that are long past? Equally bad is having a stale site that never changes. It is so easy to have a site that displays new information daily or weekly by just integrating social feeds or setting up a blog that having the same static site online month after month should really be considered bad practice in the new online world. What’s out of date on your site? What changes or gives your people a reason to keep coming back?
How easy is your website to use?
The final thing to think about is how easily a customer can find exactly what they are looking for on your site. Is your site easy to navigate and is it obvious to potential customers how they should use your site to get the result they desire? This is especially important with responsive mobile versions of the site. Is the menu still easy to use? Can a customer find your address or other contact details easily?
What should your website do in 2022?
Is your site mobile friendly?
In 2022 it’s really not optional for you to have a website that works well on a mobile device. The large majority of all website traffic now comes from mobile devices. When you also consider that consumers are now used to a fluid mobile experience online you will realise that a potential customer isn’t going to tolerate a website that is hard to use on a mobile. Google is well aware of this too and is starting to penalise websites in their search results if they perform poorly on mobile devices. Do you know how well your website performs on mobile?
Is your website fast?
Mobile devices and computers are getting more powerful every year, and broadband speed internet is now standard across most of the developed world so consumers expect websites to load pretty much instantly. Potential customers are not going to sit around waiting for an image heavy page to load when they can just hit the back button and go to the next result on Google. The online consumer is becoming increasingly impatient and won’t sit around waiting for a site to load, no matter how pretty it is or how good a product promises to be. Have you had your site speed tested? Do you know how fast the key pages load?
Are you getting organic traffic?
A well planned, designed, and built website will generate its own traffic through Google and other search engines. Paying to get every visitor to your website isn’t a good long-term business model and you should want customers to find your website organically through search engines. Unfortunately, traffic doesn’t just arrive automatically once you launch your website and unless it is well designed and built to focus on useful keywords Google just won’t recommend it to your ideal customers. A well designed SEO campaign can fix that but there is a lot you can do yourself to increase your chances. learn more here. Do your customers find your site through Google, or is 2022 the year you upgrade your website to fix that?
Does your website answer your customers most common questions?
Not all web users are looking to make a purchase on their first visit. Serving your customer by answering their key questions can help to establish you as an authority in the market whilst also building trust in your brand. Does your website have an FAQ area, or is it easy for your customer to ask questions and get a quick response through a chatbot linked to your messenger account (for example)? Your website isn’t just for making sales you should also position it to serve existing, new, and returning customers. what is your website missing that could help with this?
Do you wish your website did anything else!?
If your website doesn’t do everything you wish it could do, it is highly that the technology exists to make it happen! So, do you have a wish list of things you wish your site could do but doesn’t do currently!? Here are some ideas that might plant some seeds for you:
Membership area
Would you like to have a private members only area on your website where you could share premium content or exclusive access to you offering a higher level of support or training?
Ecommerce
Do you wish your site generated revenue? Would an online store allow you to make sales on autopilot whilst you sleep? If your business produces products that you could sell online but you are not currently doing it, then 2022 is the year to change that! Whether you sell physical or digital products you could have a web store on your site to create a new revenue stream for your business.
Online Booking service
Have you ever wished your customer could book appointments or courses online? It is fully possible to integrate websites to calendars allowing online booking services or just online calendar views to check availability. However you want to integrate a calendar into your website, the chances are it is possible!
Social feed integration
Are you tired of trying to think of new content ideas for your site all the time? For example, You can integrate your Instagram feed directly onto your website home page (or any page). This will allow you to concentrate on producing Instagram content safe in the knowledge that you’re also updating your website as well!
Blog or Article area
If you are regularly posting onto LinkedIn or Facebook but don’t have a blog on your own website you are making a mistake because you are effectively giving that content away to the social platforms and are getting no benefit from it yourself. Long form content is generally keyword rich and posting it to your website as well as social channels will help to boost your google search performance.
Free Website Audit
If this article has planted a few seeds for you to think about or you’re ready to get started on a new website project but don’t know where to start, I’d suggest you utilise our free website audit service.
Click here to get started.
The service isn’t fully automated and one of our team will have to complete a number of manual checks on your site. We will aim to get the report to you within 24hours.