It’s the beginning of a brand new year, and as with many other aspects of your web presence, it’s time to take a renewed look at your website design and ensure that it is in good condition and will serve you well over the coming year. While things may have worked well for you to date, a fresh look at the site may reveal some great website upgrade potential that will add value to your website and thus increase your business sales income.
If you work with a professional web designing agency, chances are that they periodically apply automatic software upgrades to your website. These often occur behind the scenes, and you may not even be aware that they have been installed. These often involve web server software updates or Content Management System (CMS) software updates. However, as a business owner, the onus is on you to continually renew and refresh your website content in order to maintain your position on search engines within your business area.
A website upgrade isn’t just about getting your web design agency to add more bells and whistles to the site. It goes way beyond that. Here are some compelling reasons why your website may be due for an upgrade:
1) SAFETY: One of the most compelling reasons, that you should periodically seek a professional website upgrade, has to do with keeping your website safe – not just for your visitors, but for you and your colleagues too.
As part of their upgrade services, most web design firms also help you keep your website software up to date and secure. These are updates that are best left to the professionals. With security vulnerabilities evolving on a daily basis, a website upgrade will ensure that you and your visitors are protected from ‘loopholes’ that might exist in your old or outdated website code. These software vulnerabilities would not only affect your website visitors but you and your colleagues too as you visit the site or log into the MCS to update the website content.
2) ACCURACY: How often have you heard the phrase “A second pair of eyes doesn’t hurt!” Well, having a website upgrade is like taking a fresh look at your website design in order to make sure you portray the most accurate image of your company. During the upgrade, you can review all of the content on each of the pages of the site, and review photos, text and videos for accuracy. If there is anything that’s not accurate or current, you can quickly change it during your website refresh. You can also get your web design company to check for broken links, misspelled words etc.
3) ACCESSIBILITY: Technology is forever changing. What about upgrades to mobile devices – could they impact how your website content is displayed? And what about the latest mobile operating system changes; is your site still accessible on Chrome, FireFox, MS Edge, iOS,? What about Android devices like HTC, Samsung, Motorola? Older web design strategies may not be compatible, causing your website to not be accessible on a host of newer-generation devices. Even existing content, which you haven’t changed in years, might be hard to consume on newly launched devices. A website upgrade is a good time to test for, and address, all of these challenges. The key takeaway here is that testing of your website should be an ongoing process.
4) RELEVANCY: Each year brings changes to website design trends, techniques and technologies. Unless the design of your website is in line with the latest trends, you risk losing visitors - which will impact your sales. In order to stay relevant to your audience, a website upgrade is a great opportunity to spruce up your design and bring a fresh appeal to consumers that constantly crave freshness and change. Web visitors like to know that you care about their website visitor experience on your website. If you keep your site fresh and up to date, they'll keep coming back and telling their colleagues and friends about your site.
5) STRATEGY: Each year brings a new perspective to marketing strategies. A website upgrade is a great time to inject life into your website, in order to align it with your business strategy. If visitors are looking for one specific product/service – shouldn’t you put that front and centre for them to see? What about your home page – now that your competitors are doing something different to appeal to your customers, isn’t it time for you to fight back by welcoming visitors and prospects to a more appealing home page?
Clearly, given all that you stand to gain from it, a website upgrade is an imperative in today’s highly competitive business world. But how does one get it done the right way every time?
Not all website upgrades end with delivering business owners the benefits they anticipated. It all depends on the web design agency that you work with. Before agreeing to have a makeover done to your website, it may be a good idea to first reach out to your potential website designers and speak to them about their services, and the opportunities and skills that they offer for your business.
If you have any questions about your website's health and would like to know more about a website upgrade or ongoing maintenance and support for your site, email us on info@myit.ie or call 01-6216866 .
