A common misconception of a website is that once it’s there, it never has to be updated or changed again. However, with the digital world evolving everyday, it’s essential that businesses continue to invest in their website to ensure that it is functional, responsive, SEO optimised and stands out to your audience, staying up to date with modern technology.
Whether your content is outdated, the functionality and design of the website looks like something from 1990, or your website doesn’t reflect the brand you are today, website redesigns are great for bringing your brand to life.
However, it can often be difficult to get your leadership team or boss on board for a new website (or website redesign). We’ve compiled a list of ways that you can approach the conversation to help create a compelling case for a new website, or refresh your existing website.
Identify Leadership Pain Points
Firstly, you want to put yourself in your leadership team’s shoes. Why are they opposed to a website redesign? Is it due to the cost, time, effort, higher priority projects, and worry of learning new software? Identifying pain points can help you to find ways to address all of these points.
Analyse Current Website
Next, demonstrate that your website is not performing well. Assess content and identify areas of improvement. Use tools such as Google Search Console to identify major issues in your current website, and use Google Analytics to view key website data.
Highlight to your boss functionality issues of your current website, such as:
- Broken links
- 404 pages
- Images not loading
- Unresponsive designs
Calculate Return on Investment
This one may be a little harder to calculate, and may need the help of various other departments. Calculating Return on Investment will solve a big question that leadership will have – helping you to be top of the table.
If you don’t have figures to hand, there are other ways to determine ROI and performance:
- Website Traffic – The average conversion rate of a website is between 2% and 5%. Identify what this is currently and if it has been reducing over time – this could indicate that your ROI is down too
- Conversion Rates
- Bounce Rates – High engagement levels are a sign of a healthy website, however if your bounce rate increases it may indicate that your site is not meeting user experience expectations
Take Mobile Into Consideration
If your website is not mobile responsive, you have a big problem. Over 51% of users now browse on mobile rather than desktop (and some even higher for various industries), so it’s essential that your website is mobile responsive. If it isn’t, then be sure to highlight this when talking to your boss.
Research Competitors
Search for your competitors – both local, nationwide and global – and put together research on how their websites compare to yours. Remember to keep it visual with screenshots, and include a view of your current website for the team to compare. Take into consideration design, colours, and content.
Explain Team Challenges
Explain how the rest of your team is challenged due to your current website, and how it could be impacting efficiency (leadership teams focus on making things as efficient as possible). These challenges could include difficulty making content changes, updating blogs or adding listings or products. Drive home that this directly impacts users, sales and ultimately revenue.
Check Load Times
The speed of your website has a direct impact on user engagement. If your website doesn’t load quickly, users will click off – which impacts your Google ranking in search results. Use tools such as Lighthouse and GTmetrix to check your website page speed, and compare to industry standards and even competitors.
Look at Search Rankings
Do a quick Google search to see how much visibility your website has in Google results, and take screenshots. If you are appearing low down, it could mean that your website is not optimised for SEO, having an impact on brand awareness.
Customer Research
If you’re still finding it hard to get leadership teams on board, you can do a quick survey of customers, and even website visitors. Send out a star rating quiz within emails (such as in follow up emails after purchasing), asking customers how easy they found it to use your website, with an input box for any further comments. This is a great indicator of how real life customers find using your website.
Give Ballyhoo a Call
Still not sold? Reach out to us and we can put together a proposal or more information for you, and we are always happy to talk to leadership teams or CEOs about how we can create new websites to help to grow your business online. Contact our friendly team now.
