You may think you have a good website. If potential customers look at your website and leave without buying anything, those numbers could tell a different story. It may be time to do a complete website facelift and hire a professional to provide a new website design. But before you make the call, here are five things you should consider before incorporating a new website design or making changes to your website.
Speed = Money
It may seem like such a small thing, until you realize how quickly speed does make a difference. For example, if Amazon has a 100 millisecond delay, it can cause a 1 percent loss in revenue. A 500 millisecond loss in a search can cause a 20 percent loss in revenue. While many businesses may not be as big as Google or Amazon, revenue can still be lost if a website loads too slowly. Customers do not want to wait long to find a product or service.
Optimization
If you aren’t seeing the traffic you want to see on your website, it may best to hire a professional to test your website. What is keeping your website from ranking better in search engine page ranking results? Do you use analytics? Google has a software program called Google Analytics that measures optimization. Optimizing a landing page may help you gain more customers.
Put what matters at the top
Put the important information above the fold. This allows customers to see it quickly at a glance. It also may cut down your website’s bounce rate. A customer may not stay long on your website if it takes too long loading important information. If you have important information below the fold, it may not be seen.
Design
A design needs to compliment your website’s message. It is important to have a snazzy website because impressions matter. Did you know customers will judge whether they like a website in less than five seconds? According to one study where websites were graded on visual appeal, a website has to get a customer’s attention within 50 milliseconds. Otherwise, a customer may click the back button to return to the search engine results.
Don’t fear risks
Have you considered changing your website design? Don’t fear change and be afraid to take risks. It may be scary trusting someone you don’t know to incorporate the changes you want. However, how much better will it make your website? What if the website changes help you increase your business’s annual revenue? Is upgrading worth the risk then?
