12 Signs Your Business Needs a Website Update

To help you keep your business website up-to-date at all times, we asked webmasters and marketing professionals this question for their best insights. From the website taking more than 5 seconds to load to having no conversions coming from the site, there are several indicators that you should look out for to help you keep your business website consistently up-to-date.

Website Takes More Than 5 Seconds to Load

In a world where thousands of things are demanding your audience’s time, speed matters. Statistics show that a business loses 53% of users if it takes more than three seconds for the website to load. When you realize that your website takes more than 5 seconds or longer to load, it is time to look into updating your website. Your target audience will love to use your services but don’t have the luxury of time to wait for ‘hours’ when other competitors are demanding their attention.

In addition, Google will likely prioritize websites that have a faster loading time above yours, which means a website’s loading time is important. Some tips on improving your website’s loading time include taking a look at your loading time using a page speed insights tool. If your loading time is below average, it means you need to update your website fast. The second is to seek professional advice, and the last is to compress images using plugins and look into third-party scripts.

Simon Bacher, Simya Solutions

Social Media Icons and Hyperlinks Always Need to be Checked

Whether they’re in the footer or the header, it’s important to keep your icons that link out to your social media platforms up-to-date. Here are some elements to be aware of: 

Broken Links
Did you change or customize the URL for your business page on Facebook or LinkedIn, or did you revise your handle on Twitter recently? Make sure that you also update it on your website. 

Out-of-Date Platform Branding
Still, have that lowercase letter “t” for an icon on your website that sends people to your Twitter? You’re way out of date. Change it to the little blue bird ASAP to catch up with the now, and then make sure any others are also in line with the latest platform branding. 

Don’t Be the Last One
Way too many websites still have that G+ icon up on their site. The platform officially died over a year ago, so here’s your final notice to take it down.

Vincent Orleck, SMC Phoenix

The Copyright Date in the Footer Menu is More Than 3 Years Old

We run all kinds of tests on potential clients’ websites: load speed, accessibility, competitive benchmarking, backlink profile, SEO site health, etc.  But the single most significant indicator that a site is out of date is the simplest: if the copyright date in the footer menu is 3+ years old then it’s a sign that the site hasn’t been updated since then. Moreover, it’s a sign that the site developers didn’t know or care enough to code the copyright date to update each year automatically. It’s such an obvious and visible point that most business owners immediately get what we are talking about.  It’s astonishing to me how many websites have this basic problem.

Matthew Stibbe, Articulate Marketing

Website Lacks Americans With Disabilities Act Compliance

While most people are focused on the flashy look of a website, one of the biggest trends in recent years is to build websites that are accessible to people with disabilities. Courts have concluded that business websites must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires that they be accessible. If your website was not built with accessibility in mind, it’s time for a rebuild.

Bobby Klinck, BobbyKlinck.com

If You Notice No Difference Between Your Website and Competitors’

Your website should reflect the kind of company you are as well as help potential clients understand what makes you different from the competition. This means that if you have a competitor’s website, you should be able to provide more information, present it in a more detailed and professional manner, and offer something unique that they don’t. If there’s not a clear difference between the two sites, then it’s time for an update! If there’s nothing unique about your business, then use this opportunity to add some personality and make sure people know who you are! There are plenty of ways to do that, but you must remember that you have to be the best in the game!

Piotr Buczynski, PhotoAid

If You Keep Receiving Inquiries About Information Already on Your Website

If people are reaching out to your contact lines asking about information that you’ve already placed on your website, it points to a problem with the way that information is presented. In other words, people are unable to discover the right pieces of information on your business website. Of course, some people are lazy but if it’s a trend and you keep seeing people ask about an important piece of information like your return policy, offers, or pricing then you can assume that it’s difficult for them to find it. At the very least, you should review how information is presented to enhance discoverability.

Daniel Ndukwu, UsefulPDF

If Ahrefs Gives a Health Score Below 90 for Your Website

Apart from the obvious “search result ranking” the second most important thing we use for our website is Crawl Results. We primarily use Ahrefs to audit our website and do regular crawling once every other week, and if the health score of our website is below 90 – we’ve got to immediately work on it.

This analysis provides an in-depth look at the structure of our website and provides a thorough summary of issues, warnings (that will become an issue soon) as well as how to fix those. Do it regularly and you can see a summary of what orphan pages you have (without any internal links pointing to them), what pages take most to load and thus affects the load speed, and what images on your website shall be compressed to increase loading speed, what of those miss alt or meta descriptions, etc.

Kamil Gusaev, China Access Health

You Are Getting Negative Customer Feedback or Reviews

One indicator is if customer feedback or reviews start to reflect negative sentiment towards your business or products. If this occurs, you likely need to make some changes to improve your online presence. Updating your site regularly will maintain credibility among consumers and ensure they have a positive experience when visiting yours.

Johannes Larsson, JohannesLarsson.com

Your Website is Not Responsive to Mobile Devices

If your website design isn’t responsive or doesn’t function properly on phones, which is where I think more than the majority of all Online traffic is coming from, that’s a clue it needs updating. It’s too simple to develop a website that looks stunning on a desktop & leaves the digital app seeming like a hot mess, in my opinion. It pays to constantly examine how your website appears on a real phone because most of your viewers are probably viewing it on their smartphone (especially if you’re directing them there via social media).

Make sure that all of your links, navigation, and contact forms function, that no important information is buried or concealed, and that your writing is readable and legible. Your audience, in my opinion, is constantly on the go and won’t want to waste time on a website that’s challenging to use while using a mobile device, so you need to ensure your website is prepared to entice them rather than repel them.

Steve Pogson, FirstPier

If The Five-Seconds Rule isn’t Working With Your Website

Within about five seconds of landing on your website, people should understand the core problem you can help them solve. If they are left wondering what your business actually is – and how it’s helping people – then they’ll give up and move on quickly. Look at your website analytics and survey people to find out if your website message is clear. If it’s not, then take the time to re-identify who you are serving, what their dilemma is, and how you can guide them to a solution.

April Enriquez, WordPop Public Relations

Brand Images Always Need Checking for Upgrades

When a website begins, it updates the image of its current products. However, as time goes on and the business grows, responding to diverse customer needs, its product upgrade must also be attended to. When this growth begins to happen, it is time to upgrade the website so that it may reflect the products the business has at present. If a customer visits the web page, they need to see the actual orders they can make and they are delivered without fail.

yongming Song, Imgkits

If No Conversions Are Coming from the Website

If your website isn’t turning visitors into leads and customers, it’s not converting. Your website can look great, be recently updated, and have lots of fancy features, but if it’s not converting you need to update it. Simply, for every 100 people that visit your website, it’s likely that 1 to 3 people will convert. If you work with an expert you can increase this from 3 to 5, or more. For most businesses that means 100s more customers across a year. Start by reviewing your analytics and find out what your current conversion rate is, then engage an expert who can improve this.

Oliver Meakings, Roast My Landing Page