4 Tests to See if Your Website Needs Updating

Your website is your storefront, your proof of concept, your first impression. In this digital age, the website for your organization is the first place where people go to see what you’re all about and to legitimate that you are who you say you are, and do (well) what you say you do.

For that reason, your website is your organization’s “home,” whether you have a brick-and-mortar presence or not.

For your business to thrive, you need to be sure that your “home” is in order, at all times. If it isn’t, then it’s not doing its job: legitimating what you do and driving revenue.

How do you know if your home is in order? How do you know when it’s tme to do an update? Here are four tests you can do to find out.

1. Website traffic – is it increasing over time?

I wrote a blog post about my favorite KPI’s in 2023 and website traffic was my number one choice then, too. I talked about the number of visitors, unique visitors, and pageviews. These are still important, but what’s most critical is growth over time.

Are the visitors to your site increasing? If not all year (many businesses are seasonal), then year-over-year? That’s the big question. Your site should become more and more popular, not plateau or decline.

Do you know how your traffic is doing? That’s the first test.

2. Who is coming to your website – the right target audience?

Just as critical as volume, when it comes to website traffic, is the type of people who are coming to your website. Are they the type of people who want or need what you have to offer?

If you’re not getting the right type of traffic to your site, it doesn’t matter how much the traffic increases. For example, if you have a business that’s local, selling local goods, then traffic from foreign countries may be irrelevant (unless they may be visiting your location).

No matter how much this type of traffic increases, it doesn’t help drive your revenues. For that reason, it’s just as important to watch the “who” is visiting as it is to monitor the “how many.”

3. Does your website look and act up-to-date – or behind the times?

If you think of your website as a storefront, consider the visual of two different stores: one has dirt on the windows and its displays look dusty and old, the other has a fresh, bright, contemporary look, with today’s colors. Which store are you more likely to walk into?

If you picked the one that’s fresh and bright, you’re like most people, who “judge a book by it’s cover.” If your website looks like it hasn’t been updated in the past five years, people may take one look and decide to move on to another. ?????

Similarly, if your website isn’t ideal on mobile and tablet formats, if it doesn’t load quickly, and it doesn’t have engaging visuals on the Home Page, people are less likely to look further. Again, this may not be “fair,” but it’s mostly true.

4. Have you updated any part of the site in the past year?

By refreshing or updating your site, I don’t mean redoing it. I mean going through the site carefully to see what needs to be refreshed, updated, eliminated, or added.

Too many organizations spend a great deal of time getting their website up and running and then ignore it for the next five years. They think the work is done.

But it’s never done – not while the rest of the world churns on and creates new and exciting digital experiences for people – all day, every day.

If you haven’t taken a walk through your website in the past year and looked at it with new eyes, it’s time to do that. Look at every page and see if it works for you. Does the image still grip your attention? Do the words still work? Do the graphics still appeal?

Even bigger questions are: does the navigation still work? Are people finding the pages you want them to find? Are they reading what you want them to read? Downloading or subscribing at a good rate?

If you answered no to any of these questions, it’s time to update. Go back and look at your site with fresh eyes – or ask someone else to do it for you.

Because your website is your first impression in the digital world (and beyond), it’s critical that you take care of it and update it. If you’re not sure where to start, let’s chat.