The biggest signs it’s time for a new website in 2023

Maybe you’ve got a website that works, it brings in some clients and that’s all great, but is your website doing enough and how do you know it’s doing enough? Is your website working for you? Is it attracting those all important dream clients? Before you start panicking and thinking you need a whole new brand, website and the full shebang needs an overhaul. Hold on! Answering a few questions about your site could help clear some stuff up for you. This doesn’t have to be terrifying I promise!

Business owners’ approach to website design is quite typical. If you fall into this category, then you’re not alone, but, I am trying to change this idea in a business owner’s mind. It’s very all or nothing. You do a huge website overhaul, everything has to be redone, changed up, redesigned and then your website sits and the cobwebs grow again.

What I want to try and help business owners realise is that your website should be a living beast- a being that’s alive and growing and ever changing as your business is.There are so many reasons why business owners allow their websites to go stale and not showcase their best stuff, so of which we’ll have a look at here, but I also want to help business owners learn that they could also analyse their websites meaning a big overhaul might not always be the thing that’s needed. Let’s go through the website review checklist and clear it all up…

1. Are you able to make edits or changes to your site yourself easily enough or does this fill you with dread?

This is a biggie. Your answer really should be a big fat yes to this one! The whole point of having your own business website is that it’s your and you can do what you want with it. Unlike social media, your website is your online ‘real estate’ and so the beauty of having it should be that you have the power to change stuff and that it moves and grows as much as you and your business do.

Web design updates and keeping things current should never feel out of reach! If they do, you might find you have chosen the wrong option if you have a feeling of dread or overwhelm every time things need changing on your site. At Studio Lago Design I make sure all my clients have the power to easily make the changes they want to on a regular basis. Even clients who feel they aren’t tech savvy whatsoever. I create video tutorials and give tons of guidance and help to business owners who want to make sure their website grows and reflects who they are and what they have to offer. I love hearing that my clients have already added the photos from the event they did last weekend or added their latest offering to a new section on their homepage. You should be able to do these things (if you want to do them) and if not, I can jump into help them as part of my website maintenance plans. Either have a plan to make sure you (or someone in your team) will be the ones to keep your website up to date or definitely outsource it if it’s something you can’t stand the thought of!

2. Are you keeping track of your website analytics and direct sales through your site and do you know how to do this?

Are your website visitors coming to your site through social media or somewhere else? Are they spending a decent amount of time on your site or leaving straight away? Are people visiting the pages you want them to? Are they all leaving at the same place? Knowing about your website analytics can be an insanely helpful way to know whether it’s time for a website update or to let you know what changes should be made. 

If you aren’t tracking your website analytics yet, I’d recommend either setting this up or getting help to do that on your current site so that you can see what’s working and what potentially isn’t. You’ll then know whether website overhaul is on the to do list or not. This is a great guide to getting started with tracking your website analytics.

3. Does your website align with your goals and do you know what your website goals are?

When you created your current site (or someone created it for you) were your website goals considered and do you even know what these are? I’ve added this as number three but actually this is a biggie! Your website should be strategically designed around what your business goals are. In other words, why do you have a website? Is it to sell a product, drive people to enquire about your services? Get them to sign up for a masterclass? At any given time, your website might have one or more main goals and if you aren’t telling your website visitors what you want them to do, then they probably aren’t going to do it.

As well as being strategically built around your goals, your website should also encapsulate the vision of where you want you business to be. This is about visualizing your business goals. I’m not going all woo-woo on you here! Hear me out! Everything you do in your business should focus on where you want your business to be. For example, you might have decided that your goal is to be the premier event planner for London hotel weddings. You’ve added it to your vision board, it’s in your journal and you can see it and almost taste it. But is anything that reflects that goal on your website? If you’re answer is a big fat no, then your website content needs to be updated to reflect that.

If you want to be that premier event planner for those bouji London hotels then your website content needs to reflect that now. There need to be some photos of set ups in those hotels on your site showcasing what you can do. Have a paragraph on your about page about why these hotels inspire you and your work and create a blog post about the inspiration behind one of the styled shoots you have done there. You’ll need to show it to me in order to sell it to me. To become associated with your goals get the content on your site to reflect them. If it doesn’t then that’s a big tick on the website update checklist for you.

4. Does your website do the hard work for you (even when you are asleep?)

I know all this talk of making money while you sleep can be a bit much. I’m not necessarily talking about passive income pounds rolling into your bank account here. I’m actually talking about having a website that does the heavy lifting for you any time of the day or night.

I see so many business owners putting far too much time and energyon  social media and endlessly trying to beat that pesky algorithm. It’s exhausting! Social media is important to have as a piece of the marketing puzzle, no doubt about it, but see your social media as a way of driving people to your power house of a site that will then do the selling and heavy lifting for you. Trying to get people off social media and over to your site means you have then invited them into your world where you can best showcase your offerings and give them a proper experience. It’s the best place to convert them into loyal followers and paying customers.

Your website should seamlessly take your potential clients through a customer journey. If it doesn’t do that heavy lifting for you, then another reason to add ‘update website’ to the ‘to do’ list.

5. Is your website set up to attract your ideal clients?

A big reminder… Your brand and website are not for you. They are (or should be) designed with your ideal clients in mind. While I don’t believe that there is just one type of ideal client for a brand to focus on, it’s important to get laser focused and confident in who you are trying to serve. A lot of business owners create their own branding and website when they first start out and they might like it asn their friends and family might like it too. But is it right for your ideal clients? Is it speaking their language and communicating directly to them? If not, it’s important to go back to basics and do the work on identifying who those ideal clients are and how you can connect with them. A really great way of doing this is thinking of the clients you have loved working with. Who are they? What makes them tick? What are they into? How do they communicate and how can your product or service help them?

I actually encourage you as a business owner to regularly revisit this task as this will change and evolve with your business. If you think your website isn’t aligned with who your ideal clients are, then it’s time to make some changes.

6. Are you getting the right enquiries coming through to your inbox?

Your inbox might be flooded with enquiries, but are they the right ones? If you are constantly filtering through enquiries that aren’t the right fit or ‘just not your people’ then your website isn’t doing its job.

The leads you get through your website tell the story of how your brand is positioned and what kind of people you are talking to. nIf you aren’t getting the right leads or any leads, then something will need to be changed on your site. For this it’s worth considering going back to the points I mentioned on ideal clients specifically and also thinking about the copy and messaging on your site working to speak directly to them. If this feels out of whack to you, I’d consider reworking your brand strategy and this could be a clue that a website overhaul is actually a good idea.

Ultimately, the leads landing in your inbox should be making you feel like ‘flipping heck I’d love to work with this one’ rather than leaving you feeling a bit ‘meh’.

7. Is your site up to date to showcase your current work or offerings?

Picture this. You added some stuff to your site about your Christmas offers, but now it’s february and the visitors to your site are wondering if you’re just really organised for next Christmas or are you even in business anymore. Having out of date and dusty content on your site is the worst message you can give to your website visitors. What would you do? Would you buy from a site like this?

Maybe there are services on there that you no longer want to offer or your business has evolved and you now offer shiny new stuff. In general, the content on your site should be kept up to date. As a business owner I’d recommend setting a reminder up to update stuff at least once a month depending on your business and your offerings. And if you aren’t sure how to do this, don’t worry, I am here to help!

8. Are you excited to send people to your website?

Like that solid chocolate bit at the bottom of a Cornetto, I’m saving the best for last here. Ultimately, you should be proud and excited to send people to your website. Do you cringe at the thought of people having seen your site because it was last dusted off five years ago or because it just doesn’t speak your lingo any more. There is your answer. It needs an update. There are so many ways to update your website that don’t mean a huge redesign or overhaul. It might need refreshing, the copy updating or extra services adding and job a goodun! I can help you if you’re stuck with the direction to take your website in.

Ok, so what now?

If )like so many business owners) you’re now completely overwhelmed with ideas and stuff to add to that never ending to do list or the frustration of once again having ‘update website’ as a lingering task, then I have tips! Instead of seeing the job as one big beast, break it down into sizable chunks of things you can gradually update on your site and tackle them one by one. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with such a large and daunting task, but breaking it down hopefully won’t make you run for the hills.

I’d love to chat with you, whether that’s for a website review session or to talk more about your vision and goals, and help you land on the website design that’s fully equipped to accomplish everything on your vision board for your business. Get in touch and let me know how I can help.