Your website is not just an expression of your brand, in many ways it’s the face of the brand as it’s the first port of call on your potential buyer’s relationship with you. It should also not just be a glorified business card but a robust lead generator. It should load quickly, work well on modern devices and accommodate multiple journeys to maximise value. Ensure your website keeps pace with business direction, customer needs and technological advances. We can help.
So, is your website fighting fit for marketing in 2019? Well, help is at hand. We’ve prepared a simple framework to determine your website’s health. After reading, you should have a good feel for whether it needs updating and, if so, to what degree. Here are seven tell-tale signs that you need to up your digital game:
1: You’ve updated your brand
Your website could be the first or most referred to touchpoint in a customer’s interaction with your brand, especially if you provide digital services. As a stalwart of brand marketing, it’s important that your website’s visual design has continuity with wider marketing activity. But let’s not forget that brand identities are much more than visual language. Web content should subtly infer brand positioning and values through tone of voice. It takes just 50 milliseconds for a typical user to form an emotional connection from your website.
2: It’s slow
Users expect web pages to load within 2 – 3 seconds and so the longer the load time, the higher the potential Bounce Rate. It’s a simple correlation that speaks of our dwindling patience. But another less obvious consequence of page speed is search engine ranking. Google has been using site speed as a ranking signal since 2010, scrutinising your website for being slow. Consider migrating to a new web host or re-platforming to improve performance.
3: It’s not optimised for modern, handheld devices
Seeing as mobile now equates to 52% of worldwide traffic, there is a convincing argument for supporting smaller devices. Over the past decade, we’ve seen a sharp rise in “responsive” websites that tailor the experience according to viewing devices. This approach helps websites to withstand an evolving consumer tech market. What’s more, Google is very much about ‘Mobile First’, and sites with a good mobile experience are ranking high.
4: Visitors are leaving quickly, or not doing what you want
Good user experiences will gently shepherd users through well-trodden paths in their digital journey. Peripheral messages and widgets create junctions for users to lose their way or become side-tracked. Sometimes less is more. Created focused experiences that align with the researched goals of your users. They’ll achieve their goals more efficiently and be happy that you’ve given them the precious commodity of time.
“It takes just 50 milliseconds for a typical user to form an emotional connection from your website”
5: It was developed 5+ years ago
Digital technology evolves quickly. Your website may be using a deprecated technology, rendering it incompliant with maintained web standards, or worse, actively demoted by search engines (remember what we just said about mobile?) Revisiting your website’s “technology stack” could identify areas for improvement, leveraging gains in performance, security and scalability.
6: It isn’t GDPR proof
Are you automatically subscribing users? How are you managing communication preferences? Do you have a cookie notice? Your website must be GDPR-compliant if it’s open to use by EU members. With businesses liable for fines up to €20 million or 4% of global annual revenue, it’s better to be safe than sorry. And Brexit has nothing to do with GDPR if you operate in the UK. UK law formulated from GDPR is now in force in the shape of a new Data Protection Act.
7: You sigh when you use it
Oh dear. We’ve got news for you (take a seat). You’re not the only one sighing. What’s worse, your customers associate their negative experience with your brand. After all, your website is an expression of it. As more businesses digitise their services, competitive advantage can be gained in the margins of user experience. Make it delightful to use. For your own sake, at least.
Now what?
Websites can quickly become outdated by business activity or external forces like technology, design trends and human factors like simply being too time-poor. At TBT Marketing, we appreciate both the intricacies and commercial potential of digital. With an in-house team of strategists, designers and developers, we craft memorable experiences that lift your bottom line. Website audits are a useful tool to uncover opportunities and define priorities, helping to make the complex simple.
Interested in making the right impression in 2019? Get in touch with us by email or on +44 (0)1373 469270.
