Izzy James
Digital Marketing
As a rule of thumb, getting a new website every 2-3 years is strongly advised. This ensures your design is competitive, the user experience is up to date and your website generally follows the best practices from Google.
So, is it time to get a new website in the New Year? Here are some of the reasons why it may be beneficial and will provide a substantial return on investment for your eCommerce business…
Design
Your website is effectively a 24/7 sales window to your company, and at a first glance, if it isn’t reflective of your company and branding or doesn’t look professional, you could lose customers to your competitors.
When we refer to design, we don’t just mean brand colours and pretty pictures, it’s how the whole website comes together to offer a simple user experience, including things like calls to action and content which we discuss later on.
Mobile Friendliness
We’re sure a lot of you right now are reading this blog on your mobile, so if that’s the case, we’re sure you do a lot of your internet browsing on your phone as well.
Without a mobile-friendly layout and functionality, it would be extremely difficult to use, and most people would get fed up and go elsewhere, so don’t be one of these websites.
To find out if your website is compatible with mobile, you can use Google’s mobile-friendly test, here.
Marketing Compatibility
When it comes to most forms of marketing, there are certain features as standard that many campaigns require for a successful outcome.
If you’re directing potential customers from your campaign to a particular page on your website (a landing page), this needs to have a clear customer journey in order to get the conversions you want and more.
Calls to Action
Is there an obvious button or section on your landing page that highlights the next step for your customer?
This could be a ‘buy now’ or ‘contact us’ button to complete the conversion process. Without simple calls to action across your website as a whole, many people will abandon their baskets and your site altogether, costing you money to get them there but getting no return on investment or end sale.
Hidden Code
Google doesn’t like code-heavy websites, so if your website has lots of irrelevant code, this will not only slow your website down but Google can penalise you in some instances if your code is very spammy.
For these reasons exactly, running any digital marketing campaign to a website like this can put restrictions on what your campaign can achieve, so for maximum sales, make sure this isn’t the case.
Content
Each and every page on your website should have as much relevant, quality content as possible which gives users all of the information, they need without them having to read on and on to find the answers or products they’re looking for.
If you’re an eCommerce business, this accounts for every page but your product pages in particular, with a clear and relevant product title, description, reviews and so on.
For lead generation businesses that offer services rather than physical products, this is still just as important, so people can find out how you can help.
Without regularly updated and thorough content, your website is essentially capped at how much business it can bring in for you, leading to high exit rates and a reduction in sales.
So, what are you waiting for? Get a FREE website audit today to find out how you can benefit from a new website in 2022, to take your business to new heights.