3 Obvious Signs That Your Small Business Website Needs a Makeover

When was the last time that you updated your website?

Some small business owners choose to keep a close eye on their competition’s websites and make updates accordingly to position themselves as having the superior website.

Others wait until it is absolutely necessary before enhancing their small business website design.

At the least, to keep up with the times, you should plan to refresh your small business website at least once a year.

If you’re wondering whether it’s time to give your small business website a facelift, here are 3 obvious signs to be on the lookout for:

Symptom 1: Your website is not currently using responsive design.

Responsive design provides website visitors with the ideal viewing and interacting experience regardless of the type of device used to access the site.

In fact, 48% of users say that if they arrive on a business site that isn’t working well on mobile, they take it as an indication of the business simply not caring. (Source: MarginMedia)

A responsive website is able to automatically detect the type of device that someone is using to access the website…

…anything from a desktop computer to a smartphone–and immediately make adjustments to resolution, image size, scripting abilities, and more for the optimal viewing experience.

In other words, a responsive website should respond to the technology that the website visitor is using.

How do you know if your website uses responsive design?

An easy solution is to access your small business website from a variety of devices, such as your smartphone, tablet, and desktop.

If your website does not adapt and change to the screen, there is a very good chance that you don’t have a responsive website. Google’s Mobile Friendly Test Tool is another quick way to tell if your website is mobile friendly.

And speaking of Google, the latest update to this search engine giant’s algorithm gives preference to mobile friendly websites in search rankings.

Because of this recent change, it’s absolutely necessary for your small business website to be mobile friendly, and responsive design is the most effective format for this.

Symptom 2: Your website’s design has become too cluttered.

Most outdated sites contain a lot of information and have a lot going on.

There is something to be said for whitespace.

In web design terms, “white space” is the space between graphics, columns, images, text, margins and other elements. By the way, that space doesn’t necessarily have to be white.

A business that makes whitespace a fundamental aspect of its website’s design can benefit greatly by being able to showcase content that is legible and easier for an audience to digest.

Also, if you really want to make something stand out and draw your audience’s attention towards it, surround it in white space.

By helping to better captivate your audience, whitespace can lead to more conversions on your website.

Symptom 3: You’re not getting any leads or customers from your website.

It’s not unusual to hear that a small business website is not generating the leads or traffic that the business ideally wants to see.

If you find yourself in this predicament, there is a very good chance that your current website’s design is holding you back.

Some possible enhancements to your small business website design could include the need to make more enticing offers behind forms, shorter forms, higher converting call-to-actions, a better color scheme, amongst other thigs.

If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, it’s probably time to look into website design company.