Your company’s website is critical for building trust between you and your customers. If it has gone stale, people may conclude that other parts of your company are also stuck in a holding pattern. The industry standard is to refresh how your website looks every two to three years.
But Media Relations Agency doesn’t believe everyone should make all the same marketing decisions, just because those are ‘standard’. We help our clients use smart marketing strategies to set themselves apart from the competition. Those may include recommending changes to the look of their website.
What factors might trigger the need for a visual refresh?
We rely on our Code Sheets (step 2 in our Strategically Aimed marketing system) to ensure we’re on point with every marketing variable. We revisit these Code Sheets often because audiences evolve, the marketing environment changes, new competitors can come on the scene … life happens.
Some top considerations include:
- Marketing should always be consistent. The content and images should have the same persona throughout all of your marketing materials. If your media interviews and ads position your business and products one way, your site should mirror that positioning. Similarly, a change in logo or label design warrants refreshing your site accordingly.
- Has your site become visually cluttered? As you add new products, line extensions and/or services, your site can quickly begin to look bulky or clunky. Navigation should be clean, easy and intuitive. When people don’t know where to look, they can feel overwhelmed and go to your competitor’s site instead.
- Have your audience and/or messaging changed? You shouldn’t market in a vacuum. What resonated with buyers a year ago may already be outdated. Fonts and color schemes, as well as the visual layout of your site, should always reflect how you want to appeal to your most important/lucrative audience.
- AIDA. This basic marketing term stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. Your site’s home page should grab attention and keep the visitor on your site by immediately showing them something of interest. It should create a desire for your product/service, and seamlessly lead them into your sales funnel. If there’s a disconnect anywhere along this chain, fix the problem because it’s probably causing you to lose sales.
At the same time as we’re refreshing a website’s appearance, we also assess the technical aspects. Are all the tools working as intended? Are there broken links? Does everything load correctly? We’re looking at whether the plugins, themes and features are up to date. We’re evaluating the site’s security. Are there any vulnerabilities? Are there better ways to measure and optimize your site?
If it’s time to have our expert web designers refresh your site, call us at 952-697-5269 or use this form to get on our schedule.
For more great marketing advice, check out The CEO’s Guide to Marketing!
