Refreshing Your Website – saving time and money

One of the things recessions and spiraling inflation can generate for many businesses is the urgent need to attract new customers, and one of the easiest ways to do this is to upgrade their current websites. It’s often a wake-up call for organisations who are noticing less orders coming in and under-utilized staff with time on their hands, not to mention the flow-on effect of reduced cash-flow and the resulting drop in profit. 

It’s a well-known fact that when times are tough for traders the first thing to get cut is the marketing / advertising budget, closely followed by staff reductions.  But in reality, these should be the last things to go as marketing is necessary to keep the work flowing in, and of course it’s not easy to do the work without good staff.

With the massive changes to how we get our marketing messages out there – no more leaflet drops, half page ads in newspapers or advertising on TV that no-one watches anymore – we tend to rely on electronic means to spread the word, usually through online methods.  So, what happens when a prospective client clicks on a link to your website?  Do they follow through and do business with your organisation or do they go somewhere else? 

Does your current website convey confidence?

If your website is no longer up to scratch, chances are they’ll go looking for a supplier that has a better website.  As fickle as that might seem, most organisations are judged by the quality of their websites, and a good one that has relevant information, is up to date, easy to navigate and looks appealing conveys more confidence than the alternatives out there.

So instead of spending money on expensive new marketing gizmos that might not work, especially in a flooded market, you should be looking at what you already have on hand that can be used instead.   It just makes great economic sense to work with what you have.  But let’s face it, some websites have been needing a facelift for a long time, especially to bring them up to date in terms of ‘look and feel’ and functionality.

If your current website is built using MoST software, it doesn’t always mean building a whole new website from scratch.  Chances are that a simple reskin or redesign of your existing website will make the world of difference.

When did your current website last have a birthday?

The average life span of a website is around three years at the moment, five at a stretch – this is mainly driven by technology changes and design trends.  The ‘look and feel’ of a website is absolutely integral to the message you’re promoting about your organisation, so it’s important that you’re using the one that your customers, clients or members can relate to.

At Expert www.expert.services  (the company behind the fabulous MoST software), we see websites that haven’t been touched for many years – the current record is 15 years! – and despite the initial reaction to throw it away and start again, we are often able to refresh the website template using modern-styled new images and making technology tweaks. 

While Expert is busy doing the design and structure improvements, we encourage clients to do a ‘Marie Kondo’ - that is tidy, organise and declutter - on their website content.  

Many website owners want to keep the vast amount of information that has accumulated on their websites over the years and often some of this info finds its way onto the existing homepage, resulting in a cluttered, messy and heavy-looking first impression.  Refreshing the website provides an opportunity to tidy this up and archive information that needs to be kept, in case it’s required in the future.

Minimal cost and effort required to refresh

Once Expert has finished our work, we apply the new template to the updated content, and hey presto, a fresh new appealing website is produced for minimal cost.  It’s certainly more affordable and far less painful than throwing away the original website and starting again.  It’s usually a bit quicker too.

Fortunately, the functionality of MoST websites is maintained with the improvements and updates that Expert makes to MoST on a regular basis, so it’s really only the front-end, client-facing part of the website that needs attention.  We have found that many clients use the refresh of their website to brush up on their editing skills too, and some even have a brief training session to learn the finer points that they might have missed previously, or have since forgotten.

Expert has a great design team who have vast experience in all types of graphic design, so we’re always excited to create a new look for clients, not just for their websites, but also for their overall branding if required, including logo design, print and collateral.  We’re also happy to work with designs and branding created by external design companies.

We have some clients who make design tweaks to their site on a regular and constant basis and this can work well too to extend the life of a website, but eventually the time comes for a complete refresh – it really depends on the organisation and how important it is for them to have the best website possible.

Use quiet times to your advantage

Another good reason to upgrade your website when things are quiet, is that you’ll have the staff resources on hand to do it without the distractions of being too busy working ‘in the business’.

Whatever your preference, it makes sense to stay on top of your branding collateral, especially your website as that’s your ‘shop front’ to the world.  Check out what MoST software can do for your organisation www.most.software.  The staff at Expert are always happy to discuss your website needs with you.  Contact us at us@expert.services to arrange that chat.