Your website is your company’s face. It’s how your customers find you, research who you are and figure out if they want to work with you.
First impressions are important, so it’s essential to ensure your first impression doesn’t suck. If you haven’t looked at your website in a few years, there’s a good chance it does suck without your knowledge. Here are a few signs to look out for.
1. Unrelated Clip Art
Does your site feature pictures of people you don’t work with and don’t work for? Is there an animated dancing hamster just because you think it’s cute? Get rid of them, and anything else that doesn’t visually communicate your mission and encourage people to work with you.
Does the above image inspire you to work with us? No. Your photos of unrelated smiling people won’t either. Show off who you are and what you do, and put the cute pictures on your personal Facebook page.
2. Flash Needed To View Content
Adobe Flash gave the Internet snazzy animations much sooner than otherwise possible, but today using too much Flash on your site is a bad thing. That’s because a variety of devices, including the iPad and the iPhone, do not display Flash content. At all.
More and more web traffic is moving to these devices, so it’s time to either offer a Flash-free version of your site or to ditch Flash completely.
3. Hard To Read Text
You want people to read what’s on your website, right? Then make it easy for them to read. Avoid tiny fonts, and stick to high-contrast color schemes for your text.
What does that mean? Basically, try to stick to black text on a white backdrop or vice-versa. Anything else and people with vision problems will struggle to read your text.
And while we’re on the subject: never, ever, use Comic Sans on your website. It’s an objectively terrible font.
4. Address and Hours Not On Every Page
Is your website for a business with a physical location? Put your address, and the hours you’re open, on every single page. If you can’t put it on every page, at least make sure it’s on your homepage and your contact page.
You’d be surprised how frequently people visit your site just to figure out where you are and when you’re open. If they don’t find that information quickly they just might shop somewhere else.
You’re fighting people’s impatience, so give them the essential information just about everywhere. You don’t want your customers to feel frustrated, even for a second.
5. No Updates Since The 90’s
Was this sound familiar the last time you updated your website?
Look over your site’s content on a regular basis and strive to keep it up-to-date. If you don’t, customers will notice.
Even better: add a blog to your site and update it regularly, announcing upcoming events at your business and otherwise informing your customers. We know this works, because you’re reading this post. Right now.
6. You Pay Someone An Hourly Rate To Make Simple Changes
Speaking of regularly making changes to your website: can you? Or do you pay someone $80 an hour every time you want to add a little bit of text?
If you’re paying someone to make simple changes, your website might suck. In the past five years the Internet changed a lot, and it’s a lot easier to edit modern sites than older ones. You don’t need any coding skills, and you don’t need special software for the job. The web browser you’re reading this in right now can do the trick.
We regularly set up sites and provide education; two hours is typically all it takes for a technology novice to learn to blog and update a website.
Need help? Contact Us.
Feel like your website might suck? It’s okay; many websites do. We can help, though. Our websites are different.
Get in touch with Altitude Integrations and we can take a look at your site together. We’ll pour you a drink and see what we can do to improve your face to the world.