In an increasingly digital and hyper-connected world, it’s now a commonly accepted fact that every business needs a website. Aside from brand building and lead generation, the online presence afforded by a website allows a business to establish credibility, build digital marketing campaigns, and provide better and more extensive customer service to its clientele, among many others.
However, with thousands if not millions of other businesses as competition, just having a website won’t do. For your own business to shine, you’ll need a website that’s both well-designed and optimized for search engines. A professionally made website will help you achieve searchability, improved performance on your conversions, and user experience that your customers will remember in a positive light.
That said, if you aren’t that experienced with web design, you might not realize that your website needs some changes. This can be bad for your online presence, which can both directly and indirectly hurt your bottom line. To help you figure when it’s time to hire professional web design services Philippines agencies can provide, here are some signs to watch out for:
Your Website Isn’t Mobile-Friendly
Recent statistics indicate that more than half of all global website traffic is driven by mobile devices. This isn’t all that surprising because, as of 2021, there are more than 6 billion smartphone subscriptions around the world. This number is only expected to increase in the next five years.
All of this is to say that there’s an extremely high likelihood that someone somewhere around the world will access your website through their phone. If your website doesn’t have an adaptable layout that makes it easier to read and navigate on a small screen, then you have a problem on your hands.
For one, a website that’s not optimized for mobile will rank lower in search engine results pages (SERPs). This means fewer potential visitors in the long run. In addition, smartphone users will find your website troublesome to use. Due to poor user experience, your website’s numbers will inevitably decline.
You Have Poor SEO
Most users don’t find websites organically, i.e., typing the URL directly onto the address bar. Instead, they go to search engines like Google, type some keywords, and continue from there. In short, if your website has poor search engine optimization (SEO), internet users can’t find you on search engines, and your visibility will decline dramatically.
Fortunately, there are free and easy-to-use checkers that let you know whether or not your website is optimized for search engines—and, therefore, whether or not you need the help of professional web services.
For your personal reference, one of the aspects of SEO that affects your rankings in SERPs includes the abovementioned mobile friendliness. The top search engines also check if all your website’s pages come with appropriate header tags and meta descriptions. If you have photos on your website, you’ll need to have alt tags or alt texts for them to aid with accessibility (more on this below).
You should also try to develop your off-page SEO through backlinks so that search engines will view you as a credible, authoritative website. Without these efforts to improve your SEO, your business website may remain in the backwaters of Google and other search engines.
You’re Experiencing High Bounce Rates
In website terminology, a “bounce” means someone comes to your website and then leaves within a few seconds without any other form of interaction. There are several reasons visitors leave websites immediately. Perhaps they can’t find what they’re looking for because the page layout is cluttered, or perhaps individual pages take too long to load. If the user is on a mobile device and your website is not mobile-friendly, you’re also likely to experience high bounce rates.
Do note that there are some instances in which a high bounce rate isn’t an entirely bad thing. However, for the most part, high bounce rates are concerning for your website and must be addressed immediately.
You Don’t Have Accessibility Features
Another thing that website auditing tools and search engines take a look at when evaluating your website is its accessibility. In particular, they use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines or WCAG developed by the World Wide Web Consortium to determine if people with cognitive disabilities and vision problems can easily use your website.
If your website doesn’t pass the evaluation, it may be due for a redesign by professionals. Some interventions that a professional web designer may be able to help you with are the following:
- Including alt texts to images for screen readers
- Including an option to resize text
- Allowing keyboard navigation
- Using color contrast for easy visibility
- Using descriptive anchor texts for links
Once you’ve implemented these adjustments, invite members of the disabled community to test your website’s accessibility. After all, they’re the best judges with regard to the matter.
Your Website Has an Outdated Design and Is Difficult to Navigate
When designing your website, you’ll also need to think about user experience. Even if you’re selling the best products, customers will may be reluctant to push through with their purchase because they’ve gotten frustrated about not being able to navigate your site properly. An outdated website design can also be a turn-off, especially if your target market is a tech-savvy, digitally native crowd.
For this aspect of your website, it’s an option to conduct surveys regarding its design and layout. It can also be helpful to do a personal inspection by browsing your website through the point of view of a customer. Is it easy to find content? Are call-to-action buttons easily visible and clickable? If you find yourself having trouble, and realize that your customers may feel the same way, it’s time for an upgrade.
A website is a valuable tool for digital marketing, brand building, and sales. However, it needs to be properly built and optimized for it to do all of these things for your business. If you notice any of the above signs manifesting on your website, get in touch with a professional web services company ASAP to make the necessary changes.