Make This the Year You Improve Your Online Presence
Perhaps you’ve read about new website trends and realize it’s been a while since you’ve spruced up your business’ website. Or maybe you’ve seen a decline in business and thought making some improvements to your website will help. No matter how long you’ve contemplated taking action, here are three solid reasons why you really need to redesign your website in 2021.
1. The world has changed
When COVID-19 hit in 2020, individuals across the globe were affected in one way or another. Your business likely felt the impact. But take a moment to realize that your competition probably took a hit, too. Most affected? Your target audience. Due to all that’s happened in the last year, the customers you thought you were reaching may now have different needs. Maybe those consumers have gone away. Maybe your website now has new visitors and prospective customers.
Now is the time to look at your website and assess what’s working and what’s not working. You need to be sure everything you present is relevant and effective for the people who find you through a search today and not those who found you last year or over the last five years. We are in a new world and your brand’s website has to adapt appropriately to best serve visitors and established customers.
2. Consumers expect mobile-friendly websites
We’ve known for years how important mobile devices are for consumers. Way back in 2015, Google punished websites that were not mobile-friendly. Perhaps you made some improvements that year to comply, allowing your site to be found by the world’s most popular search engine. But six years have gone by since then and mobile use now accounts for approximately half of web traffic worldwide.
Your website is an investment, and you deserve to get a good ROI. Thus, your website needs to be in front of the consumer’s eyes. Right now those eyes are looking at mobile devices. Updating your website this year means you’ll bring your business up to speed with the competition and meet the expectations for millions of people who not only find it handy to locate your website on a mobile device but actually expect to be able to find your business when they search using their device.
3. Security matters
When stakeholders hear the words “website redesign,” it often conjures up thoughts of different colors, graphics, fonts, or photos. While what you see is important, perhaps more important is what you (and your customers) don’t see. It’s what’s happening in your software.
The number of data breaches and records exposed has increased dramatically over the last 15 years. In fact, data breaches exposed 36 billion records in just the first half of 2020. One never knows exactly the kind of information cyberthieves are after and they can strike any company that has an online presence, including small businesses.
In the last year, as more and more people have had to jump online for work, school, shopping, banking, doctor’s visits, legal issues and more, the issue of privacy and security are of utmost importance. Consumers are concerned about the websites they visit and the actions they take once they get there.
According to IBM, the average cost of a data breach is $3.86 million. Losing money is one thing, but once you’ve lost the trust of a customer, you likely cannot earn that back. In fact, research by the International Data Corporation found that 80% of consumers “will defect from a business if their information is compromised in a security breach.”
When you redesign your website in 2021, you update security and stop operating with outdated technology that might put you in a situation where your customer’s data is compromised.
Ready for a redesign?
If you’ve decided that yes, 2021 is the year to redesign your company website, here are 10 steps to get you started.
Need further assistance? Still wondering how a redesign will help your bottom line? Contact us for a free consultation. The T.E. Digital team can take a peek under the hood and provide insight on how well your website is currently working. Share your goals and we can help you get to where you want to be.
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