Why is it important to maintain an updated website and yes, it IS worth the investment.
Let’s start by looking at it this way
You would never have an employee on your payroll that isn’t properly trained and up to speed with current technology, would you? Your website is advertising for you 24/7, spend the time and the resources on it to make it worthwhile.
“Websites promote your organisation 24/7: No employee will do that.”
Paul Cookson
There is no better or more cost-effective way to advertise your business than on the Internet. The trick, though, isn’t just having a website…. it’s developing the website to make sure it is FOUND on Google searches (or other search engines like Bing and Duck Duck Go), and to make sure it is driving business growth & revenue.
You can’t do this without an updated website.
One of the most important aspects of having a website (Besides Google Rankings) is having an updated website. If you don’t have an updated website, it is likely you are being overlooked by customers every day.
Visual Appeal
When people visit your site, they see it as a reflection of your organization. If your site looks professional and is loaded with useful information readers will see you as an authority and expert. Likewise, if the site looks poorly designed and structured and/or out-of-date they’ll make the same assumptions about your company. The website should highlight your product and/or service and the layout should look harmonious and consistent.
As you can see by the Before & After Pictures below; the visual appeal of the “after” is much more engaging and builds trust because both the logo and the website are updated with current technology and trends. Which website would you be more inclined to call, purchase from, or hire?
Your website is not currently Responsive & Mobile Friendly
We’re spending more than four hours online on our smartphones every day; twice as long as laptops and PCs. If you factor that with the upcoming mobile-first indexing update from Google, ignoring the mobile market is incredibly risky. It’s now considered the common practice to make a website mobile-friendly (responsive design). If you don’t have a responsive website, you will likely get passed over by someone who does.
Proper Technique & Coding
Is your website browser compatible? Is your source code valid (HTML and CSS)? Does your website meet the basic web standards? Is the technique and/or (version) programming language outdated?
Every year web standards change radically and techniques to build websites become more advanced to comply with the latest standards. If your site was developed several years ago, it probably has a lot of unnecessary HTML code and may be slowing down your website loads speeds – which may, in turn, impact your ranking in the Google search results.
The folks at Accent Graphix are always learning and evolving and keeping up with the latest web trends. We use the latest technology and tools (mixed with our own solutions) so that you can get the most out of your website. All of our websites are developed with SSL Encryption and are GDPR Compliant.
In Conclusion
In summary, the three items above highlight the most important and most common signs to look out for when you want to know if your site is becoming outdated and possibly obsolete.