Editor
Getting your small business online is one thing. But did you know that a poorly designed website can hurt your sales? Statistics show that customers tend to abandon a website with slow speed. One of the frequent questions we get asked by our clients is “How Fast Should A Website Load?” Well, according to Maile Ohye from Google “2 seconds is the threshold for e-commerce website acceptability. At Google, we aim for under a half second.”
The truth is, no matter your business size or type of industry, this is 2019 and people like fast sites. And so does Google; so, it’s crucial that you take a strategic approach to your website redesign. Know what isn’t working, what goals you wish to achieve with your website, also identify and implement latest trends.
How Do You Know if Your Website Needs a Redesign?
Google is determined to focus on ranking sites based on their mobile experience, this is the right time for businesses to REALLY focus on delivering the fastest desktop and mobile-friendly experience to visitors coming to their site.
Have you ever asked yourself, what are the latest small business web design trends in Nigeria that can help boost and improve conversions for my small business?
Here are 7 Reasons Why Your Website Needs A Redesign
1. Your website is slow & outdated
It’s “Been a While”
If this is your response to the question: “When was the last time you updated or looked at your website?” then it is pretty much a guarantee that you need a website redesign. Here are some items you can take a look at when redesigning your site:
- New product or services
- New Staff or management
- Change of Location
- Update Google Street View imagery
- Update project portfolio
2. Related websites are becoming trendier
The online market in Nigeria these days is quite dependent on trends. New changes keep getting introduced to the market. So, if you find other industry related websites observing some sort of similar design pattern, you must follow the trend. But never forget to innovate because people are still on the lookout for the most stylish, attractive yet a different website for the business brand they are trusting.
3. You Get Frustrated Updating or Adding Content
If you’re having difficulty adding or updating your website content, chances are that your website was designed a while back, it was not done in a platform that makes it easy for you to update and add content. Some businesses also run to the frustrating scenario of having their website held hostage by some web designers in Nigeria. In today’s website world, you should always have administrative rights to your site and be able to make edits any time you want.
4. Your Site has a High Bounce Rate
A bounce rate is the percentage of visitors to a particular website who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page.
When was the last time you checked your website bounce rate? It’s common knowledge that a high bounce rate is bad and a low rate is good. Several factors play into bounce rates:
- Slow-to-Load Page
- Maybe it wasn’t the right site they were meant to click on.
- The look and feel isn’t current, so visitors make the assumption that the information is not credible
- Misleading Title Tag and/or Meta Description
- Visitors can’t find what they are looking for quickly.
- Self-Sufficient Content – this is when a user gets everything they were looking for from the page on your site. This can be a wonderful thing—perhaps you have a great online marketing team.
For example, if you operate tours and travel website, you have about 4 seconds to capture a visitor who’s looking for “Cheap Flights to Nigeria”, that is the extent of the average person’s attention span when it comes to your site. So it is critical you capture their attention and provide them with a way to interact with your site inside those seconds.
5. Your Site Isn’t Mobile Friendly or Responsive
The most important asset—and the one you should prioritize—is a mobile-friendly website.
A mobile-friendly website is a responsive website. This means that your website responds to the size of the screen the viewer is using and adjusts the content accordingly. This way the information on your site is easily accessible and visually legible regardless of the size of the viewer’s screen.
Google made a big announcement back in April of 2015 and made it very clear that they will penalize any website that was not responsive. This means that your website won’t get visibility on search engines, and basically, no one will ever find it. Also, with the fact that mobile use is on the upswing in Nigeria – we can’t overemphasize the importance of having a business website that is mobile-friendly.
Nowadays, people don’t open their laptops every time they need a piece of information, a mobile phone with a data plan can do everything faster. So your website needs to look good and work well on desktop/laptop computer and mobile devices such as a handheld phone (iPhone, Android, Blackberry) or tablets (iPad, Kindle, Galaxy, etc.).
6. Blog content is outdated or nonexistent
If your website is not ranking well on Google or other search engines and people are having a hard time finding it, that is a serious sign that you need to redesign it or revamp it right away. Search engine algorithms change and evolve and an outdated website could be breaking new rules and hurting your SEO. Also, Google looks for websites with current information. One of the best ways to do that is with blogs. But if your site has been static for months or even years, it’s time for some fresh content.
7. If your website is drawing traffic, but not enough sales
Getting visitors to your site is a great first step, but if those people aren’t turning into customers at some point, then something is wrong with your site, and you need to take a look at it. For example, can people click on your phone number on your site from their phone and call you? It’s a simple enough thing to have your on your website, but a big thing for visitors who want to convert, who want to call you. If they can’t do it easily, they are more likely to move on to a competitor.
There are many reasons a website doesn’t convert. Take a look at these top 3 reasons your website is preventing conversions, then start making improvements today.
- You’re not clear about your value
- You’re not proving that you’re trustworthy
- You aren’t targeting the right people
Address these problem areas as soon as you can—every lost conversion is a lost sale and lost money your business may never be able to recover.
If any of the above statements remind you of your site, we do recommend you talk to a professional who can guide you through the process of getting a website launched that becomes a productive marketing tool for your small business. We would be happy to be that professional, and if you want to chat about the options out there, we would be more than happy to talk to you. Send us an email to info@targetbase.africa.
