Is Your Website Stuck in the 2000s?

Remember Space Jam?  Many of us fondly remember how Michael Jordan joined Bugs Bunny and his Looney Tunes friends in a basketball game and saved them all from the evil Monstars. Believe it or not, Space Jam is now 20 years old. Many, many things have changed in the last 20 years, particularly in regards to how the internet influences our lives.  In 1996, we were just starting to understand how the internet worked - remember the constantly busy phone lines and the telltale sound of your modem connecting? The original Space Jam website (check it out at http://spacejam.com) shows just how drastically website design has changed in the last 20 years. 

Your company website may not be 20 years old, but if you haven’t made many changes in the last ten or even five years, it’s time for a refresh. Here’s why.

• Your potential customers are relying more than ever on Google. There’s a reason that Siri is so popular- we rely on Google for nearly all of our burning questions. “Where is the nearest dry cleaner?” “What nearby restaurants have happy hour specials?” “My child has a fever. Does he need to be seen by the doctor and if so, what Urgent Care center should we visit?” Websites that aren’t frequently updated will fall farther down the list of Google search results because search engines regard websites with the most recent content as the most relevant.
• Mobile friendly websites are a must. A recent study found that the average person spends two hours a day on their smartphone and only half that time on a laptop or PC. Depending on your target demographic, the difference may be even more pronounced. College students for example, spend between 8 and 10 hours a day on their smart phones. It is now common practice to make websites mobile friendly - you are likely losing potential customers if your website isn’t easily navigated on a smartphone.
• Website building techniques are changing rapidly. The standards used to build websites are changing every year. Not only is a new website more visually appealing, it also loads more quickly. Websites developed several years ago probably contain a large amount of now unnecessary HTML code. This can slow down the speed at which your website loads, potentially turning away customers and impacting your Google search result ranking.
• Your website is less likely to be hacked. Older websites rely on older technology and therefore are much more likely to have security flaws. Newer websites offer much more protection against hackers.

Evolve Impact Group offers personalized website development solutions for your business to ensure improved market presence and sustainable, long-term impact in the marketplace. 

 Sources: https://psychcentral.com/news/2014/08/31/new-study-finds-cell-phone-addiction-increasingly-realistic-possibility/74312.html,  https://www.granite5.com/blog/14-reasons-why-you-need-to-update-your-website/