Let’s Explore Why Your Business May Need A New Website Design in Tacoma

You may have a website that you feel looks fine.  You tell yourself things like, “It’s an OK site.  It does its job and tells people where I’m located”.  I really don’t need a new website.

Is that really all you think a website can do for you?  If so, you must read on.

We’ve compiled a list of the Top 10 reasons why you need a new website.  It’s not a comprehensive list, but certainly begins the discussion about web design in Tacoma.  Hold onto your seat belts folks, it could be a bumpy ride for some of you!

1. Your site looks like it stepped back in time, right into the 1990’s.  Yikes! Have you neglected to do any content updating to your site in months or years?  Have you just decided “it is what it is” and left it to take up space like a paperweight on your desk?  If this old outdated website is your idea of a good way to show off your business, I might argue otherwise.  Your website is your front doorstep, the digital entrance to your online business.  You wouldn’t leave old weeds and garbage in front of your brick-and-morter establishment, nor does it look right at your domain name.  If your website looks like it could have been done in Word 95 or something your intern built after-hours,  let’s take a step back and logically consider a refresh and rebrand of your image online.
2. Please tell me your site doesn’t play music or have a flashing intro graphic or scrolling text! There comes a time when styles go out of fashion.  Can you say mullet? Yes, during that period of our lives, we all had them and they were cool.

   So goes for website fashion.

   If you’re still rocking the intro music and a flashing intro graphic or logo, you’re that guy or gal.  Seriously, stop it, you’re embarrassing your employees, your reputation and your business.  Google can’t find your site anyways with all of those flash graphics and code from a bygone era.  Your website should have some clear calls-to-action and favorable images that helps your brand connect to your target audience.  We talk about memorable customer experiences, don’t make that memory a bad one for your first time customers.

3. Me, We, Us… your site has nothing to do with your customers. Today’s sites are completely customer focused.  Info about your business should be secondary.  If you want to talk about yourself and what you do, start a blog.  People want to know how you can help them and what you can do for them.  Not how many awards you’ve won.

   Go through your website and count the number of times you say me, we or us.  It might surprise you how often your business is inward focused and not customer focused.

4. You have no idea who is visiting your site, do you? To understand your customer, you’ve got to understand the problem you can solve for them.  If you have no idea who your customer base is, or even who is visiting your site, we have a customer management problem.  I would guess you have no idea what problem you’re trying to solve for your customer either?

   If you have no idea what Google Analytics is, please click the link and watch the video.  Your site needs analytics software, period.  Without it, you won’t know what content your visitors are looking for, thus not able to meet them where they’re at in the buyer’s journey.

   Understanding your customer base is like understanding your opponent on the basketball court.  It’s important that you really understand who this customer is and what challenges they have.  Come to an understanding and walk them along this buyer’s journey.  By having a new website that can help you understand your customer better, you are one step closer to converting more of those visitors into customers.

5. Don’t tell me you’re that guy still with a flip phone…You may feel like having a site that is mobile friendly is not really necessary.  Did you know that according to research as of 2014, more that 50% of all website visits are done from a mobile phone? Every year that percentage goes up. And this statistic is growing.  To completely ignore this portion of your site is ignoring a potential huge portion of your audience.  You may have a flip phone, but not many other people do.  They are looking at your site on their phone.  Don’t force them away because your site is not mobile optimized.  And by the way, Google penalizes your site for this.  
6. You have no idea how to update your site.  If you’ve not updated your site in months (or years) and have no idea how to do it anyways, your site definitely needs a refresh.  Wordpress content management software can allow users and site owners to easily update their website.  Custom sites can even be built on the WordPress platform.  Google loves WordPress, and stats have shown that upwards of 1/2 of the internet is built on WordPress.  You can update your site as easy as you can write an email or update a Word doc.  Don’t be afraid, if it’s built properly, you can’t break it.
7. I’m still waiting for your website to load……zzzzzz.  Ok, I haven’t actually fallen asleep due to the overwhelming amount of time it takes for your website to load, but seriously.  Shall I go make myself a cup of coffee and come back?  Your visitors will give you a couple of seconds, that’s it.  If your site takes too long to load, visitors will just go somewhere else.  It’s a crime, because looking at the previous 6 reasons you need a new site, it is a shame they didn’t get to see that intro animation.  :\  Your image files were never resized for them web, nor was the programming language you used supported by modern web browsers.  It’s a hot mess in here, let’s get this thing cleaned up quick!
8. Showing up on page 4 when searching for your business name doesn’t count.  If you’ve searched for your business name and you aren’t on the first page of Google, “Mission control: we’ve got a problem”.  Don’t let me get started on trying to find you when searching for terms related to your industry.  This is a problem many websites have, and yours may not be unique.  Many website designers are great at making a pretty new website and showcasing your products, but have no idea how to optimize it for search.  If you’re not showing on the first page (or arguably the second) of Google, you don’t exist.  Plain and simple.  Search Marketing Agency Tacoma.  Do it, we dare you!  You’ll find us consistently on the first page for this term.  It’s not just your name that matters, but what people are searching for.  
9. So you spent a lot of money on the last site huh?Unfortunately, you can spend boatloads of money in the right spot, but with the wrong company.  Like many other things in life, a website is not a one and done kind of proposition.  It is ongoing, forever changing and needing more and more maintenance, TLC and love.  The web is growing increasingly faster, more nimble and mobile.  To keep up, your site shouldn’t be updated every 3 or 4 years, it should constantly be evolving.  “But that can get expensive!” you say.  If you aren’t properly planning and constantly evolving, it can cost you more by having fewer customers, lower returns and more competition that is taking over your space.
10. You can’t find a reputable or dependable company to show you the way.  We are constantly picking up the pieces and fixing things other “web guys” have done.  We understand the frustration and confusion around this topic.  Should I or shouldn’t I?  What are you going to gain?  How can you understand your customer base and meet them where they are?  You want to see some return on this investment.   We are a local, Tacoma marketing agency that focuses on small and medium sized business.  We know that online marketing can be overwhelming.  Olive Group has been in business for more than 15 years and provide free consultations for those interested in our services.