Your organization’s website is your opportunity to make a good first impression, so it holds an important role. How do you know when it’s time to refresh it?
Below are several reasons why your site may need to be updated. They vary in importance, but if you identify with any of the reasons, it’s time to consider enlisting the help of website experts.
1. A Website Redesign Will Improve Its Appeal
Was your website designed years ago? Looks matter—a lot! It may sound superficial, but an attractive site will help visitors identify you as a trustworthy organization.
Even though both nonprofits and for-profit corporations are in different sectors, your donors and volunteers expect updated web experiences no matter where they look.
I’m not suggesting that you use the latest design trends for your website—in fact, trying to be too trendy could actually be bad for your site—but it should have an updated look and feel in order to help build trust with your visitors.
A new web design will:
- Meet or exceed the expectations of your users
- Match your organization’s branding
- Help build trust with your visitors
- Allow you to stand out from other organizations
2. Your Website Needs to Be Secure
An out-of-date site puts your information and the information of your donors and volunteers at risk because it could be easily hacked.
The technology that runs on the “back-end” of your site should be updated regularly to keep up with security standards. Consistent updates to the foundation of your site will prevent it from being at risk.
When a company experiences a security breach, the news broadcasts it. A company experiences serious backlash from being hacked, and as a result has to do a lot of cleanup both on the technological side as well as in trying to repair its public image.
A website update will:
- Ensure your data remains secure
- Prevent your site from being hacked
- Put your mind at ease
3. You Want to Focus on More Important Tasks
In the past decade, technology has improved immensely. New tech allows your organization to run your website more efficiently.
If your site hasn’t been updated recently, you could be wasting a lot of time managing your site. Modern processes and tech are better organized, more streamlined, and are easier to use.
If you find that you spend a lot of time fiddling with your site, whether you’re trying to update it or fix it so it works properly, it’s not working for you. This time could be better spent by actually running your organization.
Updating the technology on your site will:
- Save you time and frustration
- Allow you to focus on your nonprofit
4. Providing a Good User Experience is a Priority
If you’ve noticed any of the following, your site may not be user-friendly.
- You have a high bounce rate (when people visit the site, they leave immediately)
- You get complaints from your donors or volunteers
- You make excuses for the performance of your site
If your site has a subpar user experience, it will leave a bad impression on your visitors. They will either become frustrated, or close the browser and leave your site right away.
It’s crucial to invest in research to serve your website visitors properly. Ultimately, the purpose of your site is to communicate your mission and get potential donors and volunteers on board. In order to make the biggest impact for your organization, your website must provide a positive user experience.
5. You Need to Have a Mobile-Friendly Website
More than half of your visitors are viewing your site on their phones. According to StatCounter, about 55% to 60% of people use their phone or tablet to browse the web.
A mobile-friendly site is necessary for a good user experience. If your site doesn’t work on a smaller screen, it’s definitely time to update. You don’t want to alienate potential donors.
A mobile-friendly site overlaps with a lot of the reasons to update above, but overall it will:
- Cause your site to meet today’s expectations
- Ensure that your site provides a good user experience
- Build trust with your visitors
6. You Want to Increase Your Website’s Performance
Whether you’re not getting enough traffic, attracting the right audience, or people can’t accomplish important tasks on your site, the bottom line is your site isn’t performing like it should.
Ultimately, your site exists to accomplish great things. You want to raise awareness for your organization, encourage donations, or attract volunteers. With a new website design, you can achieve your goals more easily and share your impact with the world.
Here at Lucid Fox, we’re ready to evaluate your organization’s website. We provide a detailed site audit so you will know exactly how your website can improve. Contact us to schedule your evaluation.
References
- StatCounter Global Stats - Platform Comparison Market Share April 2019 - April 2020, StatCounter, 2020 https://gs.statcounter.com/platform-market-share/desktop-mobile-tablet Go back up: [1]
