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New Year: Do I need a new website?January 3rd, 2013

Often people come to me and ask the question, Do I need a new website or should I just work on the current site?

Depending on how old your website is, and your goals the answer may differ.

1. If your site is 10 years old or more, you definitely need a new site. Web technology has come so far and the code we were writing in 2003 just doesn’t compare with what we are writing today.
2. If your site is 3-5 years old the answer isn’t so cut and dry.  If you are happy with the look and feel, then stick with it, add new features and freshen it up a bit. Consider adding a blog if you don’t have one, and review your search engine goals and how you are meeting those goals.
3. If your site is 1-3 years old, chances are you don’t need a new site. But if you absolutely hate your site and cringe when you look at it, consider a new site. Also, if your marketing and/or branding has changed, then your website should be re-done to match.  As with the 3-5 year old site, review how you are meeting your search engine goals.  Typically after a few years you need to tweak your content a bit to be consistently found on the web.

No matter how old your website is, there are a few other things to consider:

• Are you taking advantage of social media. Social media drives an additional 20% traffic to most of my clients and you need to have a social media strategy as well as a nice website.
• Is mobile important to your company?  The last couple of years we are moving towards responsive designed websites. The sites adjust by the size of your screen so they look good on your mobile phone, your iPad and any screen you might have. The website you are on is an example of a responsive website.
• Content: Is your content stale? Do you have the same exact content you had if someone viewed your site a year ago? If so, go through and freshen up your content. Search engines want fresh content and sites that are consistently adding new content tend to do better than stale sites.

Although I tried to answer the question, there are exceptions to every rule. If you would like us to review your site, contact us and we are happy to help.

Happy New Year!