6 Ways Your Outdated Website is Hurting Business 

Website

Often, a website is a prospective client’s introduction to your company, and having functional, eye-catching pages is key. Like with boardrooms, it’s important that your website presents a good first impression, as well as a smooth experience for all future visits. But when you have a poorly functioning or outdated website, prospective clients might forever stay prospective. Plus, current clients might call in and complain, wondering why they can’t find the solutions they’re looking for. 

As the world becomes increasingly technical, websites play a bigger and bigger role in company communications. They’re there to assist your clients when you’re unavailable, and they should provide easy access to the information your clients need. But design errors, lack of mobile compatibility, and inaccurate information all get in the way of user experience. And when a website is outdated or poorly functioning, it can hurt a company instead of helping it.  

Here are 6 ways your outdated website is hurting business: 

1. Clients Can’t Navigate It 

Have you ever gone to a website with a specific goal, only to leave in a huff because you couldn’t find what you needed? It’s possible that the information simply wasn’t there, but far more often, that information’s available… but where? Your client shouldn’t need a cartographer’s license in order to understand your site’s layout, and they shouldn’t have to deal with broken links or error pages. Instead, a website should have a clear, streamlined design that makes finding informative content quick and easy. 

2. Clients Don’t Want to Navigate it 

An ugly website is simply less fun to use. Even if your clients are able to find what they’re looking for, they might stay on the site for as short a time as possible, rather than explore it to see what else you provide. Really, this isn’t surprising—with all the debate around Comic Sans, it’s obvious that certain fonts and color schemes are more user-friendly. Additionally, well-written content is integral if you want your users to continue reading.  

 3. Poor Setup Kills Your Organic Growth  

A poorly designed website isn’t just an eyesore—in fact, as far as Google’s concerned, it’s basically invisible. When Google crawls your site, it looks for specific content and links that influence your website’s ranking on Google searches. And if Google can’t crawl your site, it won’t know what your website has to offer, which will negatively affect your rankings.  

4. Lack of Accessibility = Lack of Compliance 

Oftentimes, an outdated website isn’t easily accessible to everyone—your text may blend into the background, or you might lack sufficient alt tags for images or videos. And if your website isn’t ADA compliant, you could face litigation. Fortunately, a reliable website development team can help your website meet all ADA compliance standards. Not only will this keep your business out of legal trouble, but it will also allow more visitors to use your site, thereby increasing traffic and prospective clientele.   

5. Inaccurate or Outdated Website Information 

Sometimes, your website doesn’t need a complete overhaul; instead, it needs an update. While this change may be less invasive overall, the consequences of not doing it are equally problematic. Outdated phone numbers mean that clients can’t call you; outdated service bundles mean a client won’t understand what your company’s offering. Your website should be up to date on all of your information at all times. If it’s not, your clients won’t get the services they need, which could lead them to seek out your competitors.  

6. It Lacks Responsive Design 

In 2018, over 52% of website visits came from phones, as opposed to computers. For a business, this means that having a mobile-friendly website is nonnegotiable. Think about how often you use your own phone to scroll through different websites—if the load time takes forever or the layout is off, do you stay on that site, or hop to a new one?  

Digital expansion is happening all around us. As technology continues to evolve, it’s important that your website stays fresh, modern, and accessible. An outdated website hurts your business, but a well-designed one can help it flourish. And if you want an ADA-compliant website that’s easy to crawl and navigate, a professional website development team can help you create one.