Last week we discussed the importance of having a website and highlighted some key components every website must have. In the age of digital speed, additional seconds of load time add up quickly. When load times take too long, they can end up forcing visitors to leave your site before viewing your content. If you’ve had a website for a while, there’s a good chance you’re due for a website refresh, or quite possibly, a brand-new site. Here are three common signs it’s time for a new website.
Your Site Looks Like It’s From the 90’s
We all know the type of site we’re referring to. Think crowded sites with poor animation, blurry or pixelated images, and copy that’s difficult to read. Having an outdated site can do more harm than good. Many times, your website will be the first impression a potential resident has with your community. If they arrive on a clunky, outdated site, it will reflect poorly on your community as a whole. Plus, outdated sites typically lack important SEO components, which Google analyzes when deciding where to rank websites in the search results. So not only are outdated sites bad for users, they can fail to show up in the search results.
You Can’t Make Edits on Your Own
Within the last five years, there’s a been shift towards moving websites to a user-friendly content management system, or CMS, like WordPress. Prior to using these content management systems, website updates, even small ones, typically had to be made by a coding professional, which was timely and expensive. If you’re unable to make small changes within your site on your own, such as changing copy, headings, or images, you’re due for an upgrade.
Your Site is Not Mobile Friendly
We covered this last week, but it’s so important that we’re going to include it in this list as well. In order for your website to be successful and to ensure all visitors have a great experience, it must be responsive. Responsive design allows websites to automatically adjust their layout based on the screen size of each individual user. That means that someone on a mobile phone will be able to clearly read the copy and view the images, just as someone on a desktop computer. Similar to our first point in this list, Google loves responsive design, and takes it into consideration when deciding where to rank websites. That means responsive design is a win for visitors, Google, and your business.
Did you know that FRONTSTEPS offers beautiful WordPress websites as part of our community management software package? To learn more about what you need when selecting software for your community, download our free checklist.
