Enhancing Your Online Presence: How to know when it is time for a new website

The fact that you’ve even begun reading this article signifies the fact that you’re questioning whether your website is up to par. We don’t blame you, either. Here at Esper, we closely monitor the newest trends and new standards in web design space come out every quarter. We understand the struggle of providing the best possible interface for your consumers while still trying to balance the budget. But how do you know it’s time (or you’re overdue) for a revamp?

Here’s a few questions to better understand the scope of your situation with a quiz:

Does your website seamlessly integrate between all of your different platforms? (Facebook, Twitter, Medium, your Mailing List)

0 Points: Yes. There’s an aesthetic live feed of our tweets rolling through on our homepage along with buttons that are easily visible so our consumer can easily connect with us.

1 Point: More or less. At the bottom of our site we have a few buttons that link to not-so-active social media pages, but nothing besides that.

2 Points: No. There’s no way you could find our other platforms via our website. Even if you did, there’s no signs of life. We haven’t tweeted since that intern left in 2013.

Does your site reflect your current brand?

0 Points: Completely. While we’ve been growing as a company, we haven’t outgrown the current way our brand is perceived on our site

1 Point: We’ve made a few minor pivots and have some changes in staff in the “About Us” section, but nothing major.

2 Points: We’ve completely overhauled our mission, and we know we need to at least update our content to reflect our new direction

Are you actively tracking metrics from your site?

0 Points: Yes. I can tell you our bounce rate from each page, the unique viewers by week, and how many people came to our site from our last tweet

2 Points: No. Help. (need more here)

Does your website look good on all mobile devices?

0 Points: Yes

2 Points: No

Is your current website easily editable by your internal team?

0 Points: Yes. We have an extremely intuitive CMS that allows us to change our content as we please.

1 point: No. Our old designer created this website, charged us a fortune, and we haven’t seen them since.

Most importantly, is your website continually being utilized as a marketing and sales tool?

0 Points: Yes. We generate leads and in turn sales directly from the people that interact with our content on our site.

1 Point: With the help of a CRM we occasionally turn a visitor into profit.

2 Points: We have never generated a sale from our website

Time how long it takes for your homepage to load after clicking it on google. Add a point for every second (add ranges)

Now recall the last time you revamped your website. Add a point for every year since you did.

If you search for keywords related to your industry and can’t find your site anywhere, add two points.

Here’s how you measure up:

0-4 Points: You’re utilizing your site at full capacity. Your consumers love what you’re doing with the site from content, to aesthetics to usability. These results are hopefully being turn into conversions by your sales team, moving your company forward.

5-8 Points: Your website has a lot of the key components of being successful, but there is some significant room for improvement. Your site could be outdated, out of touch, or lacking the key components successful competitors in your industry possess. A good starting place could be an internal competitive analysis of other competitors, and from there a consultation with design experts like Esper.

8+ Points: You and your company are completely missing out on the affordances that today’s websites provide. Your site is certainly outdated, out of touch, and lacking the key components successful competitors in your industry possess. A website, good or bad, is a huge contributing factor to your brand image. Websites can be a beautiful and multifaceted tool that helps your company flourish, or one that proves completely irrelevant.

Esper prides itself on giving our clientele top of line products. If you even have a shimmer of a doubt on whether your site needs a simple tune up or a total overhaul, contact us for a free consultation today.