Is it time to update your website?

Things change. Don’t be afraid of letting your website evolve and grow better with time. Often, once a website is completed, it’s left alone for years. This might be because it was such a hassle getting it finished in the first place, or maybe no one can find the password and the last web guy seems to have disappeared, or it might be just that you don’t see anything wrong with it. However, you should periodically reassess your website in terms of whether or not it’s doing anything for you. What do you and your business need from your website?

A difficult hurdle for many is that if you’re a business, then your website’s content isn’t for you. It’s an all too common mistake that the CEO of the company requires the site design and content to be “just so” because that’s what they like. With no thought given to the people you’re trying to reach with the website, this is a recipe for mediocrity and lack of ROI. As tough as it sounds, the typical website visitor doesn’t care about YOU, they want to know what you can do for THEM. The websites that focus on that, will always be more successful.

I found a great commentary that goes into this in some depth, focusing on real estate websites. (I think it applies to most other types of businesses as well.) It’s Rethinking Your Outdated Website, by Vinny LaBarbera on his Real Estate Marketing Blog.

When thinking about redoing your website (or building it in the first place for that matter) it’s good to get feedback from other people. But if you do this, make sure to get a wide sampling from different types of people. Those closest to you will tend to answer questions like “what do you think of my website” in the same way that husbands answer their wives when asked “does this dress make me look fat?” Your best feedback will come from a total stranger.