Outdated Websites Losing Local Customers – What To Do About It

Alright, Canton Businesses – Let’s Talk Website Health
As a Stark County business owner, you juggle no shortage of responsibilities. Checking your online presence often drops in priority. But quietly ignoring your outdated website lets once ripe opportunities for new Canton-area customers go rotten.

Here at home, we want to see all of our community businesses THRIVE with websites yielding more trust, visibility, and conversions! So we’ve gathered the common website health symptoms that are turning away local website visitors before they become loyal customers.

Keep reading for ways outdated websites neglect to connect with today’s Canton online visitors. The symptoms manifest distinctly as poor mobile friendliness, sluggish speeds, dull messaging, confusing navigation flows, and outdated aesthetics. Not every business suffers ALL these issues of course. But ignoring just one risks losing 51% of customers seeking alternatives!

Let’s dig into properly diagnosing common “patient” complaints:

1. Failing the Mobile Test

Smartphones account for over 50% of traffic today. Locally and beyond, mobile usage outpaces desktop. Yet many older sites still resemble cramped online flip phones rather than smartphones. Neglected symptoms plague prospects on the go with awkward navigation, strained reading, inefficient checkout, and more. Without mobile responsiveness aligning with thumb-powered usage, businesses inadvertently neglect today’s primary traffic source. But mobile-centric design cures common mobile misalignment issues that alienate customers.

2. “Now What?” Moments

When visiting websites we consult like maps to decide our next destinations. Unclear calls to action are like arriving at confusing trailheads with signs pointing everywhere and nowhere simultaneously. Over 50% of visitors bounce without clear visual cues guiding them to convert, subscribe, book appointments, or contact. Vague “Learn More” links also force additional mental effort to decipher the next steps. Thoughtfully placed and designed CTAs treat website confusion boosting conversions.

3. Lifeless Content

First impressions matter, especially online when attention spans linger between 2-8 seconds. Unfortunately, most launch designs degrade into dullness once the adrenaline rush fades. Symptoms spanning amateurish photography, dense text walls, 1990’s era clipart, and questionable color schemes stealthily shed visitors before the experience ever gets started. But even modest photography, infographic, video, spacing, and typography modernization treatments resuscitate the patient prognosis!

4. Sluggish Speeds

Google found that 53% of mobile visitors abandon pages that take over 3 seconds to load. Locally that likely means losing customers to more nimble competitors. Diagnosing causes like unoptimized media, outdated platforms, and insufficient hosting then prescribing fixes like image compression, migrated CMSs or CDNs leads to instant boosts. With site speeds accelerating, visitor experiences, travel further through sales funnels growing revenue.

5. Dated Curb Appeal

Even if the content holds up, outdated visual wrappers shed trust and credibility. Once contemporary designs degrade into relics resembling geo cities or MySpace’s past. Symptoms span inflexible containers, system default fonts like Arial, gradient grunge or clashing color schemes, and awkward layouts. While content remains unchanged, dated aesthetics scream “out of touch!” modernizing to contemporary expectations brings huge lifts.

6. Final Thoughts

We hope reviewing common website health ailments gives you or someone you know confidence for a digital health checkup. Catching issues early keeps small problems from becoming chronic. But if debilitating symptoms persist, don’t go it alone! 330 Creative’s custom web solutions help local businesses regain competitive edges with site redesigns yielding measurable returns on investment. Our secret sauces blend stunning visuals with hardworking performance.

To learn more about our website wellness plans or schedule your free digital consultation, don’t hesitate to reach out! We craft experiences visitors love while achieving client business goals built to convert. Here’s to community health!