If you do not see any significant increase in customers and you are struggling to meet your business goals, you need to take a closer look at one of your most crucial marketing tools—your website.
Perhaps you created the website yourself and deemed it good enough. Or maybe you have not updated your site for a decade now. It is crucial to keep in mind that website design and content have changed dramatically over the years.
Most experts recommend that when designing a website, you need to ensure it keeps up with the ever-changing times. If anything, a modern website can contribute to your success significantly. Unfortunately, it is often overlooked.
Why It Pays to Have a Modern Website
While most business owners know the importance of having a website, many don't pay much attention to its design or functionality. Nowadays, it's not rare to find websites that are outdated in design and function.
Below are some of the notable reasons why you should opt for a modern web design for your business:
It promotes brand recognition and trust.
Your website represents your business online. When it looks modern and has a sleek functionality to boot, it can help create a favorable impression for your business and your brand. This can lead to better trust and better brand recognition among your visitors.
If the design elements of your website are outdated—hit counters, table-based layouts, and overuse of stock photography—it is recommended that you update it right away. It pays to remember that visitors will sometimes use their impression of your site to evaluate your brand's trustworthiness.
Undoubtedly, things won't work in your favor if you have an obsolete website. On the other hand, a modern and professional-looking website can make a world of difference and can effectively set your business apart from the competition.
It improves conversions and leads.
If you create a modern website, you also create a tool that can help generate more leads and, ultimately, conversions. Websites with modern design use visual cues and graphics that can effectively grab the attention of visitors. Often, a modern website is also designed to create a strong emotional connection with the visitors.
One hallmark of most modern websites is straightforward navigation. When navigation is easy for visitors, they are more likely to perform actions you want them to do, like filling out a form, subscribing to your newsletter, and purchasing your products or services.
The use of whitespace can do wonders for conversions as well. For starters, it can provide the breathing room a page needs to direct visitors' attention to special offers, call-to-action (CTA) buttons, and other clickable elements.
It can help you improve your ranking in the search results.
No website can claim to be modern if it's not mobile-friendly. While unfortunate to note, many websites nowadays still don't render well on tablets and smartphones. If you are still unsure about the importance of having a mobile-friendly website, consider this: we now have a staggering five billion unique mobile phone users in the world.
A mobile-friendly website can provide a massive advantage for your business as mobile users are more likely to get in touch and purchase if your site displays nicely on mobile devices.
Google scheduled the rollout of its mobile-first indexing for all websites in March of 2021. If you want to improve your ranking in the search engine results, make switching to a mobile-friendly design a top priority.
It can help entice visitors to stay on your site longer.
Badly-designed and obsolete websites have aesthetics that are not up to par and poor usability. While seemingly harmless, this can have a massive impact on your business.
This might not be common knowledge, but a whopping 90% of visitors leave a website with a poor design. Ensuring your site has a modern design and functionality can help guarantee you can provide a great impression and a powerful online experience for all your visitors.
It can help boost your SEO campaign.
It's safe to assume that one of your primary goals as a brand would be to rank high on the first page of Google for searches that are related to your industry. Fortunately, this is where a website with modern design and well-optimized web pages can come in handy.
Google has confirmed that Core Web Vitals is one of the main factors they consider when ranking websites. This means that visually appealing, faster, and responsive websites are more likely to rank higher. Thankfully, aesthetics, responsiveness, and speed can all be achieved through modern web design.
Apart from rankings, one of the enticing things about a modern web design is it focuses on the needs of the users first. When people visit your site, they can easily engage with it and follow your call to action, whether it's subscribing to your newsletter, filling out forms, or purchasing your products or services.
Essentially, a well-thought out, well-designed, and modern website will make it easier for you to drive more conversions and generate more leads.
It can help with customer retention.
Online, first impressions matter. If your website has confusing navigation, outdated graphics, and poor design, it can be challenging to entice your visitors to stay longer and check out what you have to offer.
On the other hand, an aesthetically pleasing, responsive, and easy-to-navigate website can make visitors feel more welcome and encourage them to learn more about your brand.
Adobe found out that 38% of people will no longer engage with a website if the layout or content is unattractive. This means you can lose an infinite number of potential customers because of poor visuals. Undeniably, this highlights how important a well-designed and modern website is.
Over to You
Listed above are just some of the compelling reasons why local businesses should create a modern website. Also, if you are considering revamping your old and outdated website, don't hesitate to invest in the services of professionals. They can help guarantee your introduction to the world of modern websites is a seamless one.
