Have you recently opened up your refrigerator and were surprised how many items were expired? It’s good to do the same with your website in order to prevent staleness and keep it “baking soda” fresh! Below you will find the five major signs that if your website is guilty of, it probably needs some degree of redesign. If your website checks out for these 5 signs, then you lack a solid foundation for a user-friendly website that attracts visitors and keeps them coming back. (Make sure to come back soon as we will follow up the next post with step-y-step ways to modernize and revitalize your website.)

1. Outdated Content

If your website hasn’t been updated in over 5-6 months, your content could be out-dated. Could you update your site with the latest trade-show event you attend or a recent honor you or your company received? Visitors – as well as search engines – come to your site expecting the latest information and content in your particular field. This phrase might be overused but it is always relevant, “Content is King”. If you are not updating your site often, whether it is because your Internet people always take at least 2 weeks to make an update, or your just don’t have the time/resources it is negatively affecting your websites performance.

2. Hard to Navigate

If it takes more than 2-3 clicks for your visitor to find the page you they are looking for, then you’re site is guilty of non-usability. Often times, websites are unfortunately created with no or little attention to the navigation tabs. These tabs are the basis for your visitors experience, so take time to see how you could revise these tabs to make them more powerful and effective. Warning: do not give the user too many options. People have a harder time deciding where to click next if they are given too many options – that is exactly why McDonald’s replaced its 12 basic buttons for cashiers with 7 basic buttons. Increased efficiency, bottom line.

3. All or No Text

In today’s culture, especially true with those who fall under the Generation Y category (including myself) has grown accustomed to everything instant. We want everything instantaneously. Instant coffee, fast food, and instant results – that’s why search engines are so prominent, they provide you with instant online results! The same holds true when it comes to your website. If you have too much text on your site, especially your homepage, you’re literally preventing the visitor from quickly and easily processing your content. They will likely click away as fast as they can and never look back. On the other end of the spectrum, if you have no or little amounts of text you are just as likely to need a website redesign for two reasons: 1) your lack of text is hurting your search engine marketing efforts; and 2) your not providing the right information to the visitor when you should. You can increase your online sales by as much as 225% just by providing the right product information to your customers at the right time (User Interface Engineering, 2001). Case in point, use your text wisely, make sure your copy is precise and relevant.

4. WOW Factor

A visitor to your website usually makes up his or her mind in 2-3 seconds, if whether they will explore further or click back. One of the most horrendous – and probably one of the easiest to avoid – mistakes we see when coming across new websites are blurry and jagged pictures. This has “unprofessional” written all over it. If your site has any blurry pictures, you are in what we call the “danger zone” of being deemed as not trustworthy by new web visitors.

Outdated Design Elements:
- Scrolling text
- Overuse of several colors on a dark background
- Waving flags (old school animated .gifs)
- Irrelevant pictures or overused stock photography
- Lack of column structure
- Narrow website

5. No Leads / Contacts / Sales

If you are not generating as many leads, inquiries or sales as you would like from your website your website design is most likely at fault. (Given that you are generating traffic to the site of course). One specific reason for this is that you are not placing the “call-to-action” button in an appropriate location. This “call-to-action” is what will convince the visitor that your product or service is worth their time. If they can not easily find this button (which often includes a phone number, email, or opportunity to fill out an online form) then you are at risk of loosing another potential customer. Once again, we need to reiterate the importance of the visuals on your website. There has been research that shows consumers are in an emotional state when they shop. And when they are in an emotional mode, they are more visually attuned – make sure your website is too.

What drives success on the web? Often, success is measured by how quickly and effectively you communicate your content to the user. Every aspect of your site – including the content, layout, visual aesthetics, and interactive behavior – can potentially hinder web traffic and more specifically user retention.

Visual communication is perhaps most important on the web as the eyes are the primary sense we use to absorb, understand, and act upon web content.

Tips to Tweak Your Site

Let the content drive the development of your site.

There is a reason why a user comes to your site, to solve a “problem.” You must first define whether they are searching for entertainment, information, transaction or a combination. Once you understand why the user has come to your site, you can utilize your content in an organized manner to solve their problem. In your main navigation area, create 4-7 headings from your most informative and accurate content that will likely provide an answer to the user. Make sure the user can access these headings at all times. Check out Cheyenne Dental Group for a good example.

Use different font types and sizes to differentiate headings and subheadings. A short heading in a slightly bigger or bolder font can clearly communicate the information contained within – creating visual convenience for the user and increasing likelihood of web retention. Don’t go overboard, your site will look unorganized and chaotic. A good example is Shana Insurance – with just two font variations they display a ton of information in an organized manner.

Heatmaps from user eyetracking studies of three websites. The areas where users looked the most are colored red; the yellow areas indicate fewer views, followed by the least-viewed blue areas.

Where Are You Looking Right Now?

There have been many eye-tracking studies that show the first place a user will look when they land on your page is the top-left corner. Next, they will start scanning down the page, either going back and forth like a “z” shape or just start to scan downwards like a rollercoaster drop. Our theory is that the eyes will start their focus on the left side of the page (just like how we read a book!) and look for the first focal point that can anchor its attention. Try it yourself on a random webpage and see where your eyes go.

The top-left corner is often a good place to display your company logo. If you’re hungry for conversions, then place your call to action (i.e. your 800 number or mailing list form) on the right and “above the fold”. Above the fold refers to the top half of your web page.

Increase Conversions

Conversion stats show that having an image looking directly at your call to action can actually increase conversion rates. The eye will tend to follow where the people in the picture are looking. What happens when you’re out on the street and you see two people looking up in the sky? It is a natural urge, you can’t resist!

Keep your forms sweet and short. Research shows more than 90% of prospects bail out on the average online registration form. It doesn’t take much to reduce such content; it could prove very valuable in kicking up your conversions.