In today’s ever-changing digital landscape, having an informative, aesthetically pleasing, mobile-friendly, and professionally designed website is an absolute must. For brands and online stores, having a website that educates potential customers about the products and services they offer is particularly important.

At Soulpepper Digital Marketing, our expertise in supporting businesses of all sizes across North America lends itself to knowing when a website revamp is needed. We want to make sure you can draw in more customers by offering them the best user experience on the market. Understanding when to update your site is vital, so to help, we’ve put together a list of practical tips for any brand that wants to figure out if their website needs an upgrade.

Review your web design at least once a year

Slow, dull, unresponsive and outdated websites will not entice visitors to stick around, let alone choose your product or service over your competitors’. Setting aside time at least once a year, maybe even twice, to carefully and objectively review your website’s design and functionality should be on your to-do list.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, updating your website does not necessarily mean you need a complete redesign, but rather discrete tweaks to your layout, style or even adding features that will appeal to a broad range of customers.

Not too confident about how your website looks? Our expert team of web designers can give it a once-over with you and offer advice about features and functions you need to create an innovative site that existing and potential customers will enjoy using.

Pro tip: Even if everything is looking good, run a site speed test to make sure that things are working well under the surface too. There are several free online tools available – start with Google’s Page Speed Insights. If you’re loading speed comes back as slow (on desktop or mobile devices), it’s time to consider a website redesign.

Don’t forget about updating content

Style, layout, and technological solutions used on your website all play an important role in grasping – and retaining – your visitors’ attention. But let’s not forget that website content is just as important.

When performing your periodical check-ups, make sure to take a look at the content on your website. Are your product/service descriptions up to date? Is your About section overdue for an update? Perhaps most importantly, have your contact information or hours of operation changed?

Remember that the most important function your website should perform is helping potential customers find the products or services they are looking for – make sure you’re making that as easy as possible for them.

See what your competitors are up to

This is only for research purposes! Whether you’re considering updating your website or simply wanting to add new features, checking out what your competitors in the industry are doing to entice customers using their website can be a source of inspiration.

Spend a little time here combing over websites that speak to you, but more importantly, will convert visitors to paying customers. Pay attention to layouts, designs, content, and tech solutions. For example, if you notice that the majority of your competitors are using chatbots, you might want to test similar solutions on your website – chances are you are missing out on a solid way to speed up moving visitors down the sales funnel.

Lean on your staff for feedback

Talk to your team about your website and any issues they may have with it in its current state. These issues could include any customer feedback they may have received in the past.

Having this discussion could unlock some really great ideas they may have to boost your web appeal, and in turn, inform your decision to tweak your website right away.

Insider suggestion: consider adding this topic to your monthly or quarterly staff meetings and share any ideas or suggestions on improving your website.

Don’t be shy to ask your customers for feedback either

Who knows what’s good for you more than yourself? In the same vein, your customers know what type of website and its many features grabs their attention – and makes them stay.

Don’t be afraid to ask them for honest reviews of your website and any changes that can be made to improve it. Consider including a call to action asking customers to fill in a feedback form in the post-checkout email, or even linking a questionnaire on your social media channel back to your website for that feedback.

When you do receive feedback, remember to be as objective as possible and take on any criticism or suggestions to improve your site as positives. This is especially important if you notice a trend in the reviews about the same issue. Take this as a sign that maybe that one feature does need to be addressed in order to provide a more seamless user experience going forward.

Work with an expert team of web designers

Creating positive and lasting first impressions is what we do here at Soulpepper. Our team is well versed in designing professional websites for brands and businesses of all sizes (and budgets) that will ensure you stand out from the crowd and stamp your authority at the same time.

When you leave your website in the hands of capable web designers who know and understand the local market, you can be guaranteed that your website will look great, behave correctly, and draw in leads every time.

Soulpepper boasts of a technically-savvy team that can identify and diagnose any issues your website may be having – issues that may be affecting your ability to draw in visitors and in turn impacting your bounce rates and conversion rates. Our team works closely with a number of small and medium businesses across North America, so we know what your customers are expecting and can deliver it.

Does your digital marketing strategy need a makeover?

While your website and its aesthetics form an essential part of your online presence, you need to make sure that other parts of your digital marketing strategy aren’t holding you back in generating the leads you deserve.

Being active on social media, interacting with your audience regularly on multiple platforms, as well as creating and curating content for your site all contribute to your online visibility and search engine rankings. Having a robust, multi-channel digital marketing strategy that enables you to easily be found online while delivering a punch once visitors see your website is the name of the game. Are you playing it, or is it playing you? Think about that for a sec.

For more information on digital marketing and website design, check out our blog for the latest articles. Alternatively, you can also get in touch with our team if you’re ready to improve your website or find out more about our range of tailored services. At Soulpepper Digital Marketing, we craft custom digital marketing strategies that range from web design to search engine optimization and online advertising. Give us a call today!