A couple of weeks ago, I tried to join a professional organization by visiting their website. Their schedule of events was from pre-pandemic, and the information on membership (including dues) was from 2021. I clicked the “Join” button anyway, figuring the price would update when I checked out. Unfortunately, the link to the membership form and checkout was broken. I submitted a contact form and never got a response. I could’t give them my money no matter how hard I tried.
This is not an isolated incident. There are frustrating sites all over the web. Since lockdown, people are more online than ever, so why are so many websites out of date? It seems apathy and burnout are high, while resources are low, and I get it. Plenty of companies outsource their web design and have to pay extra every time they make changes. There’s a general feeling that people don’t have money to spend on nonessentials.
That said, please do not to think of your website as nonessential. Even if you’re running a brick and mortar business, your website is a valuable asset. Furthermore, in this day and age, people are more likely to look for you online than in person, and to think less of you if your website isn’t up to snuff. By frustrating potential customers and clients, you’re losing money. According to an article on bloggingwizard.com, citing research by Komarketing (https://bloggingwizard.com/website-statistics/), 37% of users will leave a website due to poor design and navigation, and a whopping 89% of people have switched to a competitor’s website due to bad user experience.
So, what can you?
- Negotiate a design contract that makes sense for your business needs. You wouldn’t hire an interior design firm to make your storefront beautiful and then never change anything once they were done. You surely wouldn’t give them the only set of keys and then pay them to open the door every day. If you have the conversation upfront, most designers will offer a certain amount of updates for a reasonable monthly or yearly fee. Most are also willing to setup your login credentials and teach you how to make basic updates on your own site.
- If you’re past negotiations and you will have to pay to make changes, please just accept that fact and do it. Your website is not an online business card and it should not be fixed in time on the day it was made. That said, you don’t need to break the bank. Save yourself time and money by conducting a simple site audit before calling your designer. Look at every page of your site and consider the following:
A. Can your site do what you need it to do? What is the primary purpose of your website? Are you trying to make sales, grow a subscriber list, or engage with existing customers? Whatever it is, make sure your users can accomplish it without any hassle.
B. What are people looking for when they visit your site, and can they find it easily?
C. Is the contact information accurate? If you have a contact form or email address, is someone responsible for reading form submissions and emails and sending replies?
D. What has changed since your last update? Write down everything you want to change with as much detail as possible. The easier you make it for your designer, the less expensive it will be.
Read this post on conducting a site audit for more tips.
Substance and Style 