So you have a website. Great, well done! But is that enough? Have you just ticked the box and forgotten all about it, as after all, at least you have one, right?

Wrong.

Tech is a fast-paced world, and there are many reasons you need to think about why you need to keep your website up-to-date.

Take a look at the 9 signs you need to update your website in 2023…

…and ignore them at your peril, as you could be causing serious harm to your business by doing so. Both on and off-line.

Your current website is not memorable and looks out-of-date, compared to your competitors.

This is super important, as it really is the first impression that counts. How many times have you left a website, just because of its aesthetic and layout? Depending on how old your website actually is can be what makes all the difference, as what looked good a few years ago, may just serve to look pretty outdated now…

If your design was ahead of the pack at the time, but now everyone else’s website looks the same, then there is nothing differentiating you from the rest.

It doesn’t reflect your brand.

A lot can change in business over the course of a few years. Even more so if your site is particularly old. Does your website even reflect your brand any more? Are you happy to send your potential clients there, or are you squirming every time someone asks you for a business card or your web address? Let’s face it, we’ve all been there. You may have refined your services, or changed them altogether, make sure that what you offer online, is a direct and accurate version of what you do.

You’re not attracting the right clients.

Are you getting leads through your website that just wouldn’t pass your qualifying criteria? Maybe your prices have increased with your experience, and your website still reflects the cheaper version of your business… this will simply mean that anyone coming to you from the website will not be your ideal clients, and essentially wasting both your time and theirs. Make sure that you are positioning yourself correctly on the market, and that your website accurately reflects your expertise, just as importantly, your price bracket.

Outdated theme and technology.

This is quite a biggy, as this directly affects the customer experience on your website. Old school just doesn’t add up in web design. Life moves pretty fast, and in the digital world, it moves even faster. Your customer’s tastes and preferences online now shift at about the same pace, so there are certain elements they will expect to see on a website to make their journey more seamless. If you want to get results from your website, you need to make sure that it is flexible and evolving with the trends and customer expectation.

If your site is more than 4 years old, it’s probably falling short in terms of its visual presence and functionality. There’s also a high chance that the code is outdated, which slows the site load…a massive pet hate of any site visitor. It may also perform differently in different browsers due to compatibility with updates. Also, outdated themes and plugins, create a huge security risk, as they have missed out on developer updates which have coded protection from the latest cyberattacks.

It’s not mobile friendly. C’mon…this must be a no-no!

I was debating whether to include this point in the list, as it’s 2023 people! If your website is still not compatible with mobile devices, then there is literally no excuse, you have to get a new website now. The number of people viewing sites from mobile is increasing sharply year-on-year, and if you think your clients don’t view from mobile, just have a check in your Google Analytics, and that will tell you the exact percentage. Always worth keeping an eye on that to see the changes in viewing patterns.

Site loads slow.

This is where you will lose a lot of your potential customers. People have very little patience when it comes to websites and if your site doesn’t load within about 4 seconds, they’re gone. You can check your site speed for free on sites like pingdom, and GT Metrix, if you are unsure about speed.

You have a High Bounce Rate

This is another important one. You could be spending hours making sure that your SEO and marketing strategies are bang in, yet as soon as your visitor hits the site, they bounce straight off. A high bounce rate means that you are doing something wrong on the site, either with content, navigation, design or just the overall look and feel isn’t resonating with the visitor.
If you want to get results from your website, you need to fix this, and sharpish.

You haven’t thought about your site security.

These days, it’s nigh on impossible to protect your site 100% from hackers. You may want it to be tighter than Fort Knox, but cyber criminals are way ahead of the game, and so you need to do all you can to keep your site safe. An out of date website opens up all sorts of paths to vulnerability onto your site. It is extremely stressful, and depending on the sophistication of the hack, can be pretty costly too.

You have no idea about the all important SEO…

Keeping an up-to-date website is a quick way to become best friends with Google. Google will reward for regularly updating your content by visiting your site more often, resulting in it being placed higher up in ten search engine results. A blog is an easy way to start addressing this. Blogging is dead is only said by people who don’t understand it. SEO best practice can change every few years too, so, you need to make sure that your site is doing what Google tells it to. Upset Google, lose your ranking. You can also use this to your advantage, as you can repurpose your blog content, giving your business more exposure, and more sweet glances from Google.