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Does My Business Need a New Website?

New Website

A new website can dramatically boost your business’ online reputation, visibility, and ultimately bring in much more traffic — and sales. Best practices for website search engine optimization (SEO) are constantly evolving, with the latest big change including manual penalties for any and all websites that don’t abide by mobile readiness standards. Soon, the majority of Google searches will come from mobile devices, which means website owners are expected to ensure their site loads well and quickly whether on a smartphone, tablet or laptop. This Google algorithm change was made in April, and some website owners aren’t even aware of it (or know how to get mobile ready).

However, there’s a big difference between a brand-new site and an updated one. If you’ve snagged an appropriate URL and have traffic coming to your site, you shouldn’t change your URL. However, you can overhaul your site as little or as much as necessary. It’s not just what your site looks like to visitors that matters — that’s the “front end” of your site. The back end, which is invisible to visitors, includes coding and the general structure that supports your site. Both ends need to function flawlessly and be clean in order to ensure the best website possible.

Signs Your Website Needs Some TLC

Have you heard from others that your website loads slowly? Do you have auto music, pop-ups, ads, or other features that look like spam? Is it difficult to navigate, unprofessional looking and do your traffic reports indicate that your visitor numbers are dwindling? Is it hard to find the most important information? Does your website work poorly on mobile devices and tablets? Your analytics will tell you exactly what’s working, what’s not and the areas which need improvement.

Many website owners, especially of small businesses, think once a site’s done, it’s complete for good. That’s far from the truth. Websites need to be continuously tested and tweaked on at least a monthly basis. SEO considers many factors when ranking a website, and every business will benefit from a little more SEO angling in their website maintenance.

Hallmarks of a Good Website

How can you tell your new or updated website is better? You’ll notice an increase in traffic over time. Perhaps you added in a complementary app or mobile version of your website to boost your mobile readiness. A well-managed blog, gallery (if appropriate), and active comment section (if applicable) are all strong indicators. The company you hire to build a new website or remodel an existing one should provide user-friendly reports on a weekly or monthly basis, clearly outlining how the new site is helping your business.

Today, the majority of your customers and potential customers have already checked you out online before ever reaching out or making a purchase. They’re often looking at your website first, then being led to your links to social media, blogs and the like. Your website is your first impression. If it’s unattractive, slow, outdated, or difficult to use, your competition will be more than happy to pick up your slack.

When’s the last time you updated your website? If it’s been more than two or three years, you’re probably overdue. Contact Be Locally SEO today and start working with a team of website building professionals who are SEO savvy and ready to give your website a makeover.

 

Want to learn more about websites? Our expert recommends:

The Importance of User Experience in Website Development
Why You Need Website Design from a Professional
Why Mobile Website Optimization Is Important

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