We get the question from time to time of “How often should we redo our website?” Well this to me is a trick question. Daily you need to be updating your website with blogs and fresh content but a total redo you should be thinking about every 3-4 years. If that made you fall off your chair, let me tell you why. First, the user experience online changes, and your site may not be built under today’s best practices. Second, your business should change every 3-4 years and have new features that you want to share. And third, the styles get out of date. Think about it in terms of homes. If your home is beige you are so 2008… now it’s all grey. Your website can seem the same way.
How To Know When It’s Time To Redo My Website
To keep it simple we have three main attributes that we focus on for when you know that you absolutely have to get a new website.
Mobile Friendly
Your website must be mobile friendly today to compete and survive. 52.2% of all worldwide search traffic is mobile. In the US this number increases to 57%. So if your prospects and clients have a bad experience when they find you on their phone or tablet, they most likely will not proceed and pass you over for your competition. No one wants that! Not sure if your site is mobile friendly? You can use this quick test from Google to confirm.
Your Website Has Duplicate Content On It
Duplicate content is when your website provider has used the same content on other sites with minor modifications. This is a challenge for the health of your website because:
- Your website is being held back from Google rankings because Google only recognizes the first instance of your content
- You may rank well locally but you will have a challenge especially if that content has been used in the same state you are in
- It also doesn’t provide any unique experience for your client. If they are reading your content and it’s not unique to you it can fall flat on your client experience.
Calls to Action
For many websites the premise was to focus on you, your agency. It talks about your markets, time in business and more about you. We need to flip that philosophy and make it about the end consumer. Your website should be built about what is important to them. Generally what is important to them is solving a question or need that they have as quickly as possible.
What we see is that websites often lack a strong call to action. This should include but is not limited to:
- Phone number in the top right
- Address in the footer of the website
- Home page contact form and contact forms on every page
- Buttons that pop that lead people to where they should be going on the site
When you have a call to action it attracts people to convert to an opportunity for your agency.
If you are struggling with your insurance agency website’s performance, contact us.
Kelly Donahue-Piro is the Co-Founder of Agency Appeal and President of Agency Performance Partners.