Your website has a huge impact on your business and therefore it has to run smoothly and has to be up to date. Here are 6 signs to see if it’s time to revamp your website:

1. THE WEBSITE IS MORE THAN 5 YEARS OLD
If your website is older than 5 years it’s a definite red flag, because the progress of technology in 5 years is significant and can not be ignored.

2. THE OVERALL WEBSITE DESIGN IS JUST OLD SCHOOL
If the look of your website doesn’t match the current trends, it could hurt your business image and probably send the wrong message to your visitor. It is a good practice just to stay fresh!

3. SLOW LOADING PAGES
If the website takes too long to load a page, chances are that the code is old or there are errors in it. Test your website with Google PageSpeed Test.

4. WEBSITE ISN’T MOBILE FRIENDLY
The percentage of people that use a mobile website is higher than a desktop website and in fact, Google decided a few years back to rank mobile-friendly websites higher.

5. WEBSITE IS NOT DELIVERING THE TRAFFIC AND LEADS
Looking at the analytics you can figure out your website performance. If your website is not getting any traffic or visitors are leaving the site very quickly you might want to consider a site upgrade.

6. WEBSITE OFFERS A POOR USER EXPERIENCE
Users website experience is what makes them to stay longer on the website and makes them want to come back. It must be easy and intuitive to find the menu anavigation, product and service information. If they have difficult to do that they will look elsewhere.

In conclusion, if you think you don’t meet one or more of the points listed above, it is necessary to act immediately to avoid to turn customers away and above all to minimize business losses.

More than 50% of google search is done on mobile devices compared to desktop. This will definitely increase!

What does this means for your mobile website? It means that:

1. The website has to have a RESPONSIVE Design. Basically the website can adapt its content to any type of device, tablets, iPads, iPhones, laptops and desktop computers.
2. The website should be secure with SSL certificate. The biggest one, as of October 2017, Google Chrome will start to warn people if website is secure or unsecure and eventually will put the website at the bottom of the list.
3. The website has to load fast. If people go to a website that doesn’t load and clicks on the back button google sees it has a negative feedback which consequently penalizes the website.
4. Another practice to make sure the website loads fast is to use the Google Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) technology. AMP is a way to build web pages for static content that allows the pages to load and pre-render in Google search much faster than regular HTML.
5. The header image should be small because people don’t want to scroll too much before they find the content.. That could be annoying and people could leave the site. Also text should be a readable size and dark in color.
6. Don’t use pop ups, especially those that take the entire screen, because in mobile site it is really hard to exit out of this pop up. Also using too many pop up affects the ranking in a negative manner.

Do you have any questions? Drop a comment in the box below

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer and is a certificate that encrypts communications between a website and an internet browser, making the communication secure from hackers. In the past, SSL certificate was mandatory for those websites that accepted credit card payment.

In October 2017, Google decided that the browser Chrome will show a “NOT SECURE” warning when users enter text in a contact form or enter text in a sign up form on an HTTP page site (ie. NOT SECURE www.websitesample.com). To know if a website has an SSL certificate, check if the url starts with HTTPS:// instead of the unsecure HTTP:// where “S” stands for secure. The reason why google came up with this is is because consumers demand protection of personal information. This change will be shortly implemented in other browsers like Firefox, Safari and so on.

Having a SSL certificate for your website also affects Google search ranking algorithm, which means that if your website has SSL it will be positioned higher compared to a website that doesn’t have it.

To add an SSL certificate to your website you have to contact your hosting company. The average cost of an SSL certificate is around $100 per year.

Let us know if you have any questions by commenting on our Facebook Page or sending a direct email to luigi@mrsmatweb.com.

Latest statistics says that 30% of consumers won’t consider a business without a website. (Capital One survey)

All business’ should have a website, since people use the internet to search for products and services and if your company doesn’t have an online presence, you are losing out on great opportunities for your business. A website itself can be used to accomplish many different marketing strategies to help your business grow.

It is also VERY important, not just to have a website, but it has to be nice-looking, easy-to-use, mobile-friendly, include the latest trends, technologies and be search engine optimized. A mobile friendly website is a MUST. Even people with no experience in websites can tell if your website is outdated and that hurts your business, especially if consumers compare you with the competition. In addition, Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites over those that are not in mobile search results.

Other benefits of having a business website are:

1. A website is your virtual salesperson available 24/7. Anyone can access it at any time of the day and you can reach more clients faster.
2. A website is cost effective because you know how much it will cost. With a storefront expenses can vary month by month.
3. A website helps you build credibility with your customers/clients, giving your business the opportunity to tell consumers why they should trust you.
4. A website helps to market your business online. There are various marketing strategies that a business can use, but it is proven that online marketing strategies are the most effective.

In conclusion, it is a MUST that a business has a well designed and functional website and more importantly, it is up to date with the times and innovative.

Let us know if you have any questions by commenting on our Facebook Page or sending a direct email to luigi@mrsmatweb.com.

In Canada there are over 32.12 million internet users and about three quarters of them search online for good and services before they make a purchase. The internet is a vital tool to the success of your business and the website is the key.
Websites site allow you to interact with your customers, increase visibility and create new business.