Your website is, without a doubt, the most crucial component of your digital strategy. It not only displays essential information about your hearing services, team, and story, but it also allows potential hearing aid patients to get a better understanding of how you present your practice to the public and, as a result, make the decision to contact you.
You’re likely losing clients if your website is out of date and you’re utilizing out-of-date communication tactics. Why? We trust websites that appear to be well-maintained and liked more than ones that appear to have been neglected or updated for years.
Here are several indicators that your website needs to be updated.
It has an out-of-date appearance.
The digital world is a constantly evolving environment that requires your full attention. Every year, new tools and technologies for creating appealing, user-focused websites are dictated by changing web standards and trends.
The same thing is happening with the preferences and habits of users. How your website looks and functions have the most significant impact on your brand identification and visitors; therefore, keeping up with current expectations is critical.
But how do you tell if your visitors think your website design is outdated? If you developed your website more than two years ago, it is an outdated design and functionality. A web design’s lifespan isn’t set in stone.
It doesn’t have an SSL Certificate
Every business should have an SSL certificate on their website, especially since Google has favored websites with SSL certificates for better search engine ranks. SSL (Secure Socket Layer) is an encryption technology that establishes a secure connection between a web server and a web browser.
A small green padlock icon SSL padlock will appear to the left of a website URL in the browser when an SSL certificate has been successfully placed on the server, and HTTPS will appear in green as well. Data transfers, credit card transactions, logins, and other personal information are secured with SSL certificates. They give website users peace of mind and encourage users to stay on a website for an extended time.
It doesn’t play nice with mobile devices.
On average, we spend 5 hours every day on our phones. As a result, it’s now more important than ever to have your website built for mobile-first. It’s no longer acceptable to treat your phone as an afterthought.
And Google has prioritized mobile. They altered their algorithm in July of 2019 to prioritize indexing the mobile version of your website. Suppose your competitors’ website provides a superior mobile experience. In that case, Google is significantly more likely to favor them in search results over yours.
It is pretty slow to load.
To test the speed of your website, go to pingdom.com and perform a simple test. Should your website take more than 4 seconds to load, it’s time to make some changes or build a new one. You lose 7% of your conversions for every second you keep someone waiting.
Image optimization, minifying javascript, CSS, and HTML, and other technical jargon that we won’t delve into for the sake of your sanity, all contribute to increased speed. The point is that if any of the primary reasons apply to you, starting from scratch is most certainly the best option.
The content is no longer relevant
Any page on your website that no longer delivers value to the user or the brand is considered outdated content. A discontinued product or service, old pages with little or no information (also known as thin content pages), a former employee profile, time-sensitive content such as a job vacancy, or outdated advice could be examples.
The first thing to remember is that Google’s fundamental aim is to organize and deliver the world’s information in the most beneficial way possible. Suppose your website has links to items, posts, or pages that are no longer relevant. In that case, Google will notice and prefer sites that are more useful for your website visitors.
At AuDSEO, we not only assist hearing practices like yours in developing their web presence from the ground up, but we also actively assist them in updating and refreshing their existing web presence with modern and proven strategies that not only enhance their brand but also bring in new hearing aid patients! Make an appointment with us right away.