Now I don’t want this to sound like a pitch (damn, I should have changed the title) but Good Monster comes across oodles of businesses that refuse to give their website a much-needed re-design, or at least a face-lift.

We can understand the resistance to spend money; but in an age when 97%^[1] of adults use the Internet to do research on a product or service before they make a purchase, a website is definitely not something that should be brushed aside.  Consumers and professionals these days expect that a leading business in an industry should have a well designed, easy-to-navigate website that they can engage with on some level. We attribute this resistance to a few things.

The Problem: 15 years ago when business was thinking about developing a website, it was something that they were going to do once and not have to worry about again. People could go onto their desktop computer, find out the hours of operation, get the phone number for the business, and then call them on their landline. That was the purpose of a website.

The Change:  With 273 million people in North America and 2.4 billion people worldwide ^[2] getting their information and doing research online, people have developed a certain expectation that any reputable company will have an engaging, informative website that is easily accessible from any device.

#1 | My website is not easily viewed on a mobile device

We have become comfortable with the fact that the Internet is a part of our daily life. People’s expectation for any professional company’s website is that they can find what they need, when they need it, from anywhere that they need to access it. A website that is not responsive to the screen dimensions of a desktop computer, a smartphone, and an iPad, will turn away its Mobile visitors pretty much immediately.

Now, making your website accessible for mobile visitors doesn’t always mean a complete redesign of your website. Sometimes there is the option to just develop a simple mobile version that mobile users will see.  If you’re on a shoestring budget this might be the way to go – but for companies that want to engage as many people as possible, it is important to align all of your digital platforms to effectively brand your business.

#2 | A visitor cannot easily connect with my business in 1 click

The biggest shift in online visibility is the explosion of Social Media. Social media is now the most important platform for companies to attract people’s attention online – people who will spend actual dollars if they get a good impression of a brand. Search engine optimization is still very important to drive traffic to a website, but social media is the digital queen of influencing people to buy. It allows people to share and refer their online friends to check out things that they like.

So you can see why it is so important for you to make it easy for visitors to like, share, and engage with your social media platforms. You need to make sure that your social media links are front and center on both desktop and mobile devices – and make sure they are pretty, so people want to click on them.

#3 | A visitor cannot see my most important benefit in less than 5 seconds

Think for a moment about the MOST important piece of information that you want a viewer to know about your business. Now think about or look at your website – is this information the first thing that they see? If your answer is no, then you need to redesign your website, period. The average time spent on a webpage is about 33 seconds ^[3] so you better make sure that the most important message can be found quickly and will make a big impact.

A decade ago websites shifted from being a static “menu” of business offerings – to an interactive home, where users can get up to the minute information about the brand and engage with them. If your website does not have a clean modern design that is viewable on all devices and easily navigated to provide answers to visitors and engage their attention – then it’s time to get an upgrade and start getting business from your website.

[1] http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nearly-all-consumers-97-now-use-online-media-to-shop-locally-according-to-biakelsey-and-constat-87221242.html

[2] http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

[3] http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-215_162-5037448.html

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