Why You Need a New Website Design

By Joe Cunningham, Internet Marketing Manager
09/30/2013

We do websites.  It’s just what we do and we rock the house.  Don’t have any trouble talking that up with our clients and prospects.  Between Chris (our web designer), Jesse (art director), and Tracey (our project manager): clients come in and out all often with huge smiles on their faces as their websites are revitalized to fit all their needs and design wants.

We’re just the best Syracuse website design team.  I have no hesitation nor guilt just sayin’ that.

I do some dirty work in this process.  As Internet Marketing Manager, having a website is the “I wish it were obvious” pre-req for marketing your company online; and making sure that website is professional, effective, and up-to-date is the “you really won’t make money otherwise” prep-req #2.

I look at a lot of websites.  Most of them are not so cool.  A lot of them are pretty terrible and I have to find creative ways to nicely break the bad news to clients that they “really could use a website redesign.”  There are many good reasons to do this.  I thought I’d outline a few of them.

A Few Good Reasons You Need a New Website Design

Money

I thought I’d mention this one first because it’s the language business people pay attention to.  If you’re website is simply an inexpensive electronic business card “couch-potatoe-ing” itself on the web, I can tell you people who get there aren’t any more informed about your company than they were before, except maybe now they have your phone number.  But who is going to call you when they can just Google your competitor and read more about their company?  Chances are they’ll probably go somewhere else because you didn’t give them enough info and your appearance may have s*cked pretty bad too.

You’ve gotta’ remember: internet marketing is not about getting traffic to your website as much as it’s about converting people who get there to buy your stuff.  99% of people use the internet to find things they need, so you can’t ignore it.  And if you’re not making money from your site, something is wrong: it’s time for a change.

Every other reason really boils down to this one.

The World Wide WebMaintaining a Professional Company Image

Fifteen years ago, maybe it was cool to have a cr*ppy looking website up on the web, because at least you had something on there and could tell people to “check out our website,” which is pretty much all they could do with it.  And the graphics probably looked like you got them from the first Nintendo games ever made.

That was cool back then.

Now, that actually works against you.  Better almost to have no website than one that looks that bad. 

Imagine you never got new clothes and wore the exact same outfits to work every day for the rest of your life.  Chances are, people would catch on and think that was pretty weird.  Don’t count on giving a good impression when you step into a meeting with a prospective client.

The same applies for websites: people judge your company based on how you look online.  And it starts with your website.  No matter what the case, if you have a cheap looking website, people will think you’re not a top notch company to work with.  If it looks outdated, they’ll think everything you do or have is outdated.  If it’s confusing, the same.

The opposite is also true.  Make a beautiful, feel-good website and people will want to work with you because you make it easier.  Have an organized website, people will feel that respect.  Basically, your website is you on the web to your customers.  How do you look and what do you convey?  It’s that simple, and important.

SEO

Search engine optimization is what causes your website to appear higher on Google when people look for stuff you sell or offer.  (For more about SEO, click here).  Beyond the aesthetic look and feel of a website are a million little details search engine spiders care about that tell them what your website is all about and how well built the structure is.

You may notice this yourself when you navigate through.  If things seem slow or broken, there are problems.  This is an oversimplification but that’s pretty much how it is.  When we upgrade or design a website, we go under the hood and make sure everything is search engine optimized as much as possible to give you the head start you need to be competitive.

For a free SEO analysis of your site, click here and fill out our short form.  We’ll get you a report back in no time.

Steve JobsThe Road Goes Ever On and On

Let’s face it: you’re never going to be done upgrading.  Apple will keep making iPhones and website designs, capabilities, and trends will keep getting better and more technologically advanced.

Not upgrading your phone will just mean you can’t do things as fast as everyone else and you won’t look as cool as if you had the new one.  Not upgrading your website can cost you your business.

Think it over.  Your potential return on investment is great.  If this is news to you, it’s probably news for your local competitors too.

Get on your game and get a new website.  Smaller businesses can normally go about 2-3 years before their business has changed so much that they need a complete structural website design; while larger businesses whose websites compile thousands upon thousands of complex pages can really only afford to redo every 4 years or so in order to maintain a good ROI. (StrategicMarketing.com)  How long has it been for you?  This is not like letting yourself skip your next dental appointment (which I don’t recommend, by the way); it can mean life or death for your business.  Some friendly advice: don’t take it lightly.

If you’d like to receive a free website evaluation of how good or bad your website looks, fill out this quick form on our site by clicking here.

And happy “web-siting.”

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