In today’s digital age, having an effective and visually appealing website is crucial for any business or organisation, including not-for-profits. This is because in the virtual world of the internet, your website serves as your virtual shopfront, representing your brand and showcasing your work and achievements. It enables you to educate and communicate with your audience, and also raise funds online to support your work, sustain and grow the organisation.
Kudos, if your rescue organisation already has its own website!
However, as technology advances, and the way we interact with technology evolves, websites can become outdated and fail to meet the evolving needs of your audience after a few years. Therefore, it is important to periodically assess whether your website needs an update or revamp.
By keeping an eye out for certain signs, you can ensure that your website stays attractive, relevant, user-friendly, and optimised for performance.
Not secure
One of the signs your website needs attention is if your website still uses HTTP instead of HTTPS. With cyber threats becoming increasingly prevalent, this is a simple yet essential fix to ensure that your site is secure and encrypted, giving confidence to your visitors that their information is protected at your site.
Missing pages or images
One of the key indicators that your website may need an update is the presence of missing pages or images. When visitors encounter broken links or placeholders where content should be, it not only creates a frustrating user experience, it also reflects poorly on your organisation’s professionalism and can lead visitors to question the credibility of the content.
Broken links
Broken links are not only frustrating for users but also detrimental to search engine optimisation (SEO). Search engines prioritise websites with good quality links, so having broken links can negatively impact your search rankings and organic traffic.
Cluttered and dated look
Another sign that it’s time for a refresh is an unattractive and cluttered design. In today’s visually driven society, people expect clean and intuitive designs that are easy to navigate. If your website appears outdated or busy and overwhelming with excessive text or graphics, it may be time to consider a fresh look.
Slow loading
Another sign is slow loading times. In today’s fast-paced times, people have little patience to wait out websites and pages that take a long time to load. If your website is sluggish, you may be losing not only visitors, but also damaging your search engine rankings. Search engines like Google prioritise fast-loading websites, so if your website is slow, you’re likely to be pushed down the search results.
But what causes slow loading times? It could be due to poorly coded plugins or outdated coding practices, large and incorrectly sized images, and/or a lack of caching mechanisms. By revamping your website, you can optimize its performance and ensure that visitors have a smooth and seamless browsing experience.
Conclusion
By recognising these signs of a dated or underperforming website, you can take steps to rectify them. Depending on your organisational capacity and resources, this could be rolling up your sleeves and figuring how to DIY, getting someone with the necessary skills to do the job, or a hybrid approach.
Whatever approach you take, you can be sure that taking action to update or revamp your website will boost your ‘’brand’’, online presence and help you build your audience and supporters in the digital age.