Published: 25/08/2022 By Lucy Goodgame
When it comes to business, first impressions are everything. This is particularly true when it comes to your online presence. What do you think happens when a potential client lands on your website and it looks like it hasn’t been updated in months? It creates an immediate negative first impression.
Is that the impression you want people to get when they think of your business? Probably not, but so many businesses don’t make their website the priority it should be. Perhaps you spent a great deal of money setting up your website years ago and thought that was “job done”. The truth is that a great website is never ‘finished’.
Market research carried out by Opinium has found that an astounding 81% of consumers wouldn’t contact an estate agent if their website looked dated. We all know that first impressions count, but this study highlights just how crucial it is to the success of your business to have a website that meets or exceeds expectations.
Is that the impression you want people to get when they think of your business? Probably not, but so many businesses don’t make their website the priority it should be. Perhaps you spent a great deal of money setting up your website years ago and thought that was “job done”. The truth is that a great website is never ‘finished’.
Market research carried out by Opinium has found that an astounding 81% of consumers wouldn’t contact an estate agent if their website looked dated. We all know that first impressions count, but this study highlights just how crucial it is to the success of your business to have a website that meets or exceeds expectations.
When you neglect your website, you neglect your business. Here are 7 reasons why your business might be losing revenue because of an outdated website:
1. It ranks poorly on search engines
Keeping a website current is important because search engines regard websites with fresh content as more relevant to web users and therefore ranks them higher in search results.
If you don’t regularly update your website, it will continue to fall in the search engine rankings, making you harder to find for potential customers.
Webdadi websites are optimised for search engines and are built to rank highly on Google for the search terms your customers are using, ensuring you rank above your nearest competitors and giving you the edge. Google constantly changes the way it ranks a website, so Webdadi adapts your site even after you’ve gone live to make sure you keep up with those changes.
2. It looks like you don’t really care
Your website creates an assumption about the quality of your services. No matter how professional, motivated, and engaged you are in person, an outdated website gives the impression that you don’t really care. No one wants to buy or sell a property with an agency that looks like they will put in the bare minimum effort.
Consumers judge bad websites instantly and mercilessly. Your website reflects you as a brand. When you neglect something as important as your website, users will assume that you neglect other areas of your business and take their custom elsewhere.
Outdated design diminishes your credibility. To your customers, it seems like your business is not competent or engaged. Why would they want to do business with a company that doesn’t seem to care?
3. Not mobile friendly
More and more people access the internet via their phones. According to Statista, over 75% of estate agent website site visits are now made through a mobile device. If a visitor goes to your site on their phone and it isn’t mobile-friendly, they won’t bother going to a computer to look you up. It becomes an automatic lost opportunity. Having a website that is mobile responsive is therefore essential.
Outdated websites are more likely to break into smaller screen sizes, making navigation and content difficult for customers viewing your site from their phone or tablet. If your website is not responsive, it not only affects the end-user experience but also ranks you down in search results. This is because Google prioritizes mobile sites over desktop-only sites, making it harder for your non-mobile-friendly site to be found. Therefore, all Webdadi websites are mobile responsive as standard.
4. Easily hacked
Around 40% of businesses reported cyber security breaches or attacks in 2021. A growing number of cybercriminals are specifically targeting property sites and old software that hasn’t been updated is especially vulnerable to hackers, putting both you and your customers’ security at risk.
Letting your site get old not only makes it easier for hackers to get past your security protocols, but it also affects your search engine ranking. This is because Google prioritizes secured websites with an SSL certificate over unsecured ones. Negligence with security (like an expired SSL certificate) makes customers reluctant to submit their personal information, which massively hinders lead generation.
Webdadi automatically update new functions and features to keep your website fresh and secure. Webdadi has recently updated all Atom websites to use Google's latest V3 reCAPTCHA, which gives the best protection to your website.
5. Not user friendly
Time is a precious commodity. Most website visitors are looking for ways to find critical information fast and without having to click too many buttons.
According to Adobe, 39% of people will stop engaging with a website if images take too long to load. If your web pages are slow to load or your site hard to navigate, customers will simply go elsewhere.
According to Adobe, 39% of people will stop engaging with a website if images take too long to load. If your web pages are slow to load or your site hard to navigate, customers will simply go elsewhere.
89% of consumers state that ease of use is the most important factor when choosing between two websites. In short, if your website is slow and hard to navigate, your customers will go to your competitor’s site instead.
6. It looks like you’ve gone out of business
Your website should be a reliable source of information for your customers. Your address, phone number, services, listings, and employees should all be current when someone visits your website. If you land on a website that hasn’t been updated in ages, filled with out-of-date information, users will question whether your company is even still trading.
A study conducted by KoMarketing found that after arriving on a company's homepage, 86% of visitors want to see information about that company's products/services. If the information they find is clearly out of date or wrong, they can’t be blamed for questioning if you’re still in operation.
Outdated website layout gives your audience the idea that your business is old or neglected. They may assume that your business is slow or wonder if you have closed your doors completely. A website riddled with outdated content has been likened to the cyber equivalent of a “going out of business” sign in your window.
7. Creates more work for you
A good website should save you time. It should provide your customers with an easily accessible solution to whatever enquiry brought them to the internet in the first place. If your website is outdated, customers will phone or email you to get the information they should be getting from your website, wasting your valuable time.
It will also mean you have to work harder to get leads. Your website is there to generate a higher number of quality visitors and effortlessly convert them into new opportunities for your estate agency. If your website is a turn off, you will be losing valuable leads.
Webdadi websites are fundamentally built to drive opportunity and ensure you don’t miss any of value. Using innovative technology to capture user information so you can react quickly to all enquiries and ensure the opportunity isn’t missed.
In conclusion
First impressions are everything. If you want to use your website as a tool to grow your business, keeping it fresh and up to date is going to be vital to your success. When you invest in website quality, you’re giving your business the best chance of ranking strongly against your nearest competitors, boosting your brand reputation, and generating those all-important new leads.
If your business is guilty of having an outdated site, then hiring a professional website design company is the way to go. Our expertise is designing beautiful websites that can generate 4.5x more leads than Zoopla. Our software is designed to do the thinking for you, letting you know what improvements need to be made to maximise lead generation.
Hit the link below to find out how the Webdadi experts can help.
