Is Your Outdated Website Working Against Your Business and Brand?

In the ever-evolving digital landscape, remaining relevant is crucial for businesses seeking to establish or maintain a robust online presence. As many consumers and business professionals primarily rely on the internet for information on products and services they desire, the credibility of a website plays a pivotal role in shaping user perceptions and ultimately, purchasing decisions. Web credibility research conducted by Stanford University found that 75% of users admit to making judgments about a company’s credibility based on its website design. However, the prevalence of outdated website content, design, and security measures poses a significant threat to businesses of all sizes, potentially transforming what was once considered a company’s greatest digital asset into a liability.

This article delves into the impact of outdated web content on business credibility and highlights the telltale signs of an outdated website. Moreover, it provides actionable insights to empower businesses to navigate the digital landscape effectively, ensuring their online presence remains not only relevant but also trustworthy in the eyes of their audience.

The Consequences of Outdated Content

Challenge: Outdated, Low-Value or Thin Content
Solution: Maximize Your Content’s Potential

Outdated content hinders your ability to capitalize on opportunities to attract your audience, or worse, turn your audience in a competitor’s direction. Discover the hidden potential in your content by assessing its unrealized value. From refreshing outdated blog posts to repurposing evergreen content, identify content on your website with significant untapped potential, helping you capitalize on your past marketing investments. Go beyond your site and breathe new life into all your marketing materials, extending their lifespan and enhancing their impact through consistency across every step of the buyer journey. This strategic approach ensures that your content not only remains relevant but continues to provide value over time.

• Conduct quarterly content audits of your website, online and offline channels to identify outdated and irrelevant content, and make a plan to update that content with the help of subject matter experts in your company.
• Identify the top 10 landing pages and blogs that bring the most organic traffic to your site, and enhance, optimize, and refresh the content on those pages to gain additional visibility.
• Analyze your sitemap regularly, looking for opportunities to plug content gaps and optimize click depth.
• Shift important content from rarely-visited pages to pages that are more likely to be visited.
• Add internal links to eliminate content “dead-ends” and guide users to related content.

Challenge: Undermining Brand Credibility 
Solution: Show Your Unique Value

Outdated content can inadvertently send negative messages to your audience, eroding the trust you’ve worked hard to establish. Realize the importance of cultivating and maintaining your unique perspectives to build brand authority. Evaluate and revamp your content strategy by infusing it with fresh perspectives, ensuring your brand remains a thought leader in your industry. Through innovative storytelling techniques, engaging visuals, and expertly crafted narratives, your brand not only regains but strengthens your authority. Stay ahead in the information-heavy world by partnering with professionals who understand the dynamics of online credibility.

• Be sure to look beyond copy, and continually add and refresh images, videos, graphics, and data.
• A consistent way to ensure your content is always fresh is establishing a monthly habit to updating your website: switching your homepage hero image, writing a top-of-funnel educational blog, writing a mid-funnel product, service or solution blog, posting a company update and/or careers you are hiring for, and adding content to your top ten most visited pages.
• Partner with internal experts and agency partners to create long form high impact content like landing pages, technical articles, solution guides, infographics, and case studies.

Challenge: Looking Out of Touch
Solution: Stay Relevant in the Digital Age

Staying relevant is paramount for building and nurturing customer relationships. Outdated content can make your brand appear inaccessible and irrelevant, potentially deterring consumers from engaging with your brand. Stay in tune with your audience’s expectations by conducting thorough market research and analyzing industry trends to ensure your content reflects the current needs and preferences of your target audience. Whether it’s updating blog content, creating interactive multimedia experiences, or implementing cutting-edge SEO strategies, keep your brand at the forefront of your industry. Don’t risk appearing out of touch – collaborate with professionals who specialize in maintaining relevance and accessibility in the digital age.

• Use a digital marketing tool like SEMrush to track your competitors’ content strategies for high-value organic traffic.
• Use that insight and tools like ChatGPT to research your competitors’ blog and website content to develop unique content themes that strikes at their content gaps.
• Invest in content strategies that provide long-term ROI, such as video, interactive demonstrations, calculators, infographics, case studies, client testimonials, awards and recognition announcements, and content-centric SEO strategies.

Unlock the untapped potential and unrealized value of your content. Request a free consultation today for expert advice on best practices for website content in 2024 and ideas on how you can enhance your website to attract more visitors, build your brand, and generate more opportunities for your business.

Signs of an Outdated Website

Challenge: Non-Responsive Website
Solution: Apply Mobile-First Principles

To put it plainly, in 2024, a non-responsive website is unacceptable. Having a non-responsive website is not just outdated; it has a negative impact on user experience, credibility, and reputation, and can be detrimental to your brand’s success. In fact, in 2023 Google switched to mobile-first indexing, which means that your mobile website experience will affect your search engine ranking and presence more than any other single factor. To avoid penalties that inhibit user traffic, ensure your website seamlessly adapts to various screen sizes and devices by implementing mobile-first design principles, page layouts, and web development techniques. Through the integration of modern technologies, you can transform your site into a responsive, user-friendly platform, reinforcing your brand’s commitment to excellence in the eyes of your audience.

• Audit your website regularly using Google Search Console to understand mobile ranking factors.
• Identify mobile errors and usability issues using Google Core Web Vitals, or observe user behavior on mobile devices in Google Analytics 4.
• Prioritize a website design refresh if your website’s mobile experience is not user-friendly.
• Consider how your audience may navigate your mobile website vs. the desktop version by considering which device users rely on for various tasks; for example, researching a complex solution for a business vs. shopping for clothing, checking warranty information vs. managing an online account, looking for directions to your store or facility vs. applying for a job, etc. Use this assessment to tailor the mobile website to be more user-friendly for mobile-first tasks.

Challenge: Poor Accessibility
Solution: Expand Your Reach Through Inclusivity

Prioritize inclusivity by recognizing the growing importance of web accessibility and its direct impact on your audience’s web experience, especially the estimated 5-8% of all people who have difficulty using a website without assistive devices. Gain insights from the tools and technologies used by website development companies to comprehensively measure accessibility and compliance to standards like ADA 508, WCAG 2.1, Matterhorn, and more. Then address these issues regularly to maintain trust with your audience. By ensuring your website is accessible to users with diverse needs and abilities, you can easily broaden your reach, demonstrate your brand values, and avoid litigation and complaints – while meeting federal government standards and contractual requirements.

• Audit your website regularly for compliance to web accessibility standards. (The most popular benchmarks are ADA 508 2017 and WCAG 2.1 A/AA.)
• If multiple people update your website’s content, establish protocols to maintain accessibility standards.
• Add a Web Accessibility Statement to your website.
• Ask for feedback from users that have visual, auditory, or sensory impairments, color blindness, or use an assistive device such as a screen reader.

Challenge: Slow Loading Speed
Solution: Accelerate User Experience

The consequences of slow-loading websites can be very troubling, from increased bounce rates to diminished search engine rankings. In fact, studies show that a one second improvement in page load speed results in a 10% increase in organic traffic. That’s why best-in-class websites use page load reduction strategies like image optimization, file compression, and content delivery networks (CDNs) that prioritize speed and performance. Faster page load times mean a better user experience, leading to more satisfied users, longer time on site, and better search engine rankings.

• Troubleshoot load issues using Core Web Vitals reports, and use tools like Lighthouse and GTMetrix to assess, track, and benchmark page speed performance.
• Improvements for pages below a grade of B, as well as mobile page speed, should be prioritized.
• Use image optimization plugins to reduce image size, dimensions, and load time without manual work.
• Go next level by automatically converting images to WebP format, which provides superior lossless compression for web images.
• Check code-related errors that slow down your site, especially third-party embedded applications and JavaScript errors.
• Implement CDNs like CloudFlare, Amazon CloudFront, or Sucuri to enhance web security and load speed.
• Link embedded videos from video platforms like YouTube or Vimeo, instead of self-hosting them.

Challenge: Old Technology
Solution: Safeguard Your Site and Site Visitors

Understand the risks linked to using outdated technology on your website, from compromised user experiences to security vulnerabilities. Stay informed of the latest web development technologies, as well as updates for your own platform, to ensure optimal performance and security. By leveraging modern programming languages and frameworks, you can safeguard your website against potential threats, creating a user experience that is not only efficient but also secure.

• Implement security measures such as user access management, multi-factor logins, and in your WordPress CMS or preferred content management system.
• Review your hosting environment regularly for firewall vulnerabilities, security patches, and proper caching configurations.
• Customize your CMS to make your website easy to update and maintain.
• Always maintain ownership of your domain names and DNS records, even when using a third-party hosting company.
• Update your website and CMS software, plugins, and third party integrations whenever software updates or patches are released.
• Maintain PCI compliant servers and up-to-date SSL certificates if your website houses sensitive customer information or data.
• Regularly back-up your website, in the cloud.

Need help solving speed or performance issues? Get an assessment and recommendations from our experts. Request a free consultation today.

Evaluate Your Website’s Effectiveness

Challenge: Elevate Accessibility and Search Rankings
Solution: Incorporate User-Friendly Design Practices

Evaluate the user friendliness of your website and understand its impact on audience engagement, brand affinity, and search engine rankings. Utilize tools like Lighthouse, Google’s mobile-friendly test environment, to ascertain if your site aligns with best practices for responsive design and user experience. From these insights, you can not only assess your website’s mobile responsiveness but also implement UX  improvements, ensuring a seamless and engaging experience for users across various devices.

• Follow best practices in mobile menus to enhance navigation on small devices.
• Address common small screen device challenges such as button sizes and placement, call-to-action link text, color contrast, oversized images, scroll errors, jump loading, and restrictive pop-ups.
• Use ratios and scaling for typography, image sizes, margins, and spacing – rather than using fixed pixel values – to create elegant and scalable design elements.
• Challenge your designs to use creativity in their responsive page layouts and designs.  Interesting angles, background shapes, motion, colors, and overlays can breathe life into “boxy” and boring designs.
• Analyze user behavior using heatmapping tools like HotJar to identify pages and design elements that may be causing user frustration.

Challenge: Navigation and Usability
Solution: Enact User Experience Best Practices

While exploring critical elements of a user-friendly design like strong design practices for navigation and page layout, it is also important to fix technical errors that can cause user frustration. Neglecting these easy-to-overlook aspects can result in lost revenue and missed opportunities. Conduct a comprehensive usability audit to identify and rectify navigational issues, and enhance user satisfaction, reduce bounce rates, and ensure visitors easily find what they need – contributing to increased conversions and overall success.

• Conduct monthly audits to find and address 404 errors, broken links, missing images, redirects, and other technical glitches.
• Use inner linking to eliminate “dead ends” and connect related content.
• Rely on tools like Semrush and Screaming Frog to uncover usability issues that may be hidden or limited to certain browsers or screen resolutions.
• Regularly test forms, third party tools (like Maps) and interactive applications for content entry, error handling, authentication, submission tracking, and auto-response content.
• Consider using outside testing and QA services, at least annually, to do a comprehensive UX audit across all popular browsers, devices, and operating systems.
• Use site mapping tools to find orphaned pages or remnant landing pages that are no longer useful.

Challenge: Generating Sales Leads
Solution: Converting Visitors into Prospects

If you choose nothing else from this article, stop here and run with this directive. Evaluate your website’s marketing technology (aka martech) approach, specifically tools that help capture leads and prospect information. Do this, today. There are many intricacies of designing effective lead capture forms and the nurturing workflows they trigger, and even minor improvements in this area can lead to big results. Be certain that your on-site lead capture strategies are easy to navigate, encourage user interaction, and starts an immediate relationship with your brand. Incorporate the appropriate tactics to monitor user behavior, allowing for future targeted marketing efforts. By optimizing lead capture processes, you can convert casual visitors into valuable leads, contributing to sustained revenue growth and sales success.

• Use popups to drive users into revenue funnels, and tailor these experiences for user behaviors like returning visitors, post-form completion.
• Integrate marketing automation platforms that send emails and even social media posts to users that request information.
• Implement live chat, chatbots, and AI-driven chat to support users, answer questions, and reduce customer service workload.
• Incorporate self-service tactics like calendar scheduling to accelerate the sales process.
• Test copy on landing pages with lead capture forms to increase conversion rate.
• Integrate lead scoring and anonymous visitor tracking on your website to engage with “dark funnel” visitors – or those that aren’t quite ready to reach out formally through a form.
• Beyond forms, use technology to track phone calls and email clicks to get a more complete picture of your website’s performance and lead gen opportunities.

Challenge: Professional Appearance
Solution: Make a Positive Impression with Polished Content

Typos and grammatical errors can undermine your brand’s credibility and professionalism. The significance of maintaining a professional image through error-free copy and on-brand content is immeasurable. Skilled copywriters and site designers can ensure that your website copy and on-site imagery reflects a polished and professional image. Refine your existing content or create new, engaging content, to elevate the overall appeal of your website, leaving a lasting positive impression on visitors.

• Require everyone who creates website content to follow your brand guide and copy guide to ensure consistency. If you don’t have these standards in place, create them.
• Use automated tools to find misspellings on your website.
• When mixing brand and stock photography, adjust color values, tones, vignettes, noise, and other adjustments to create a consistent look and feel across images from different sources.
• Plan to refresh and update your website’s design style every three to five years.
• Invest in professional, custom photography and videography for best results.
• Select web-safe fonts and typographical weights that match – or closely align – with your brand identity.
• For multilingual websites, hire human translators to proofread machine-translated copy and technical content for accuracy.

Challenge: Integration with Digital Marketing Strategy
Solution: Achieving Synergy for Success

Do not underestimate the need for cohesive integration between your website and other elements of your digital marketing strategy. It is critical to understand the intricacies of aligning your website with your promotions, email campaigns, display ads, and social media efforts. Your website should seamlessly integrate with your broader marketing initiatives, creating a unified brand presence. By achieving synergy across all digital channels, you can maximize the impact of your online presence, ensuring consistency in messaging and increasing the effectiveness of your overall marketing strategy.

• Evaluate high-value keywords and incorporate them into your website copy, metadata, and navigation menus in an organized and strategic fashion to drive organic traffic.
• Remember, UX overshadows SEO in Google’s view: use a “human-first” approach to SEO copy so your site doesn’t sound like it is written for a robot.
• Enact a content strategy that continually grows the reach, credibility, and value of your website.
• Create specific landing pages for PPC and paid campaigns.
• Use remarketing tactics to re-engage non-converting visitors and get them to return to your site.
• Relevant and specific content is effective content; make sure your website contains pages or content sections that speak uniquely and specifically to your target audiences.  Go further by segmenting email, social media, and blog campaigns by audience, industry, or solution to get the most from your content marketing efforts.

Get a complimentary UX and design audit, brainstorm ways to enhance your brand image, or learn more about Synergy – our proven marketing methodology that delivers results you can bank on. Request a free consultation today.

Take the Next Step: Now Is the Time To Transform Your Website

Now that you know the consequences of an outdated website and how it can negatively impact your business, you may be wondering where to go from here. Recognizing the problems is just the first step; now it’s time to take action.  Here’s how:

1. Make a plan and gather your resources.  Before you jump in, it’s important to align your goals with your website strategy by developing an action plan that covers your most important objectives. Whether you are considering a few quick updates or a more comprehensive overhaul, a written plan that includes prioritized tasks, timeline, KPIs, and cost considerations is a great way to get organized and get started. In addition to creating a roadmap, a well-thought-out plan will help you identify the resources you need upfront – helping you avoid potential delays, frustration, and extra work as you execute your plan.
2. Audit, analyze, observe, optimize. Use tools, like the ones we’ve recommended in this article, to assess your website and provide insightful data to help guide your implementation decisions. Once you’ve done the work, continue to observe website analytics to see how your choices have impacted key metrics like organic traffic, visitor engagement, conversion and other KPIs that are important to you and your company. Use these observations to further develop strategies that can build off your work, allowing time to see how consistent and incremental changes can drive trends in the right direction.
3. Lean on your team and experts. Properly maintaining a modern, effective website requires many skill sets. If you or your team lack the time, experience, expertise or energy to do it yourself, consider leaning on an outside partner like Synapse to help you develop the right strategy for your website, implement it efficiently, measure the results, and incorporate your learnings into your ongoing strategy.

For most companies and brands, maintaining an up-to-date website is the most important way to build their brand, keep customers happy, and maximize the ROI of all marketing initiatives. If you have questions or would like a complimentary audit of your current website, we invite you to book a free consultation today.