14 Common Problems with Outdated Websites
Updated November 2022
Is Your Website Working Against You and Your Business Objectives?
Did you launch your website a few years ago? If so, it’s time for an update. The internet, web development standards, and best practices are continually evolving.
How people consume information and access your website has changed with the times. Is your website keeping up? Let’s look at some of the common problems with outdated websites.
Your website’s primary purpose is to introduce your business and services to your audience and sell your products. Therefore, your business website needs certain elements and functionality.
But over time, the effectiveness of your business website can diminish. To help you determine if your website still meets your business objectives, you need to eliminate problems with outdated websites.
14 Problems with Outdated Websites
1. High Bounce Rate
The bounce rate shows how long a website visitor stays on your site after viewing one page. If your website’s bounce rate is over 50%, 50% of visitors leave without navigating to different pages. That is one of the problems with outdated websites.
There are various reasons for high bounce rates, including bot traffic, web design issues, information architecture, etc. And designing your website without keeping user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) in mind can increase the bounce rate, signaling it’s time to redesign your website.
2. Non-Mobile-First Website
Not having a mobile-first website is one of the most common problems with outdated websites. Can online visitors access your site from any device? If not, when a mobile visitor visits your site and it’s unreadable, they will quickly click away and bounce from your site. So you are missing a significant portion of your target audience right from the start!
According to Oberlo, in 2022, the number of global smartphone users is estimated at 6.6 billion, marking a 4.9 percent annual increase. It is also 2.9 billion, or 79 percent, more than the number of smartphone users in 2016, just six years ago.
85% of U.S. adults own a smartphone as of 2022. And in many other countries, especially in Asia, that percentage is much higher. The highest usage comes from South Korea, where nearly every adult (95 percent) is a smartphone user.
According to Statista, in 2022, U.S. adults spend an average of 263 minutes per day on mobile non-voice activities, up from 63 minutes in 2014.
Your website should be mobile-first, meaning users can access it from all devices, regardless of screen size. Take Google’s mobile-friendly test and analyze your website to see if it has a mobile-friendly design.
3. Poor Website Health
Another common problem with outdated websites is the large number of “Page Not Found” or other crawl errors. These errors impact your website’s health.
Check out your Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, or Yandex Webmaster Tools for deep insights into your website’s overall health. Take a look at Google Analytics to view key website performance metrics.
Find out if there are any 404, crawl, or other errors that decrease your website’s performance. Also, look into how often your website appears in search results and click-through rates.
If these checks indicate your website is not performing well, it may be time for a new or updated website.
4. Visitors Don’t Explore Content
Suppose Google Analytics, or any other top 20 website analytics tools, shows a decrease in organic visitors, high bounce rates, or many online visitors who don’t move past your homepage. In that case, your website is not providing a satisfactory user experience.
Modern consumers are becoming ever more sophisticated and demanding. They will leave if your website does not provide the expected user experience. That is one of the problems with outdated websites.
5. Slow Page Load Speed
One of the most common problems with outdated websites is their page load speed. Not only is a fast-loading site essential for your human visitors, but Google considers page load speed a search ranking factor. That makes page speed optimization so crucial.
When visitors land on your site, you only have 5 or 6 seconds to impress them. If your website takes longer than 5 seconds to load, they will likely leave your website. Use GTMetrix or Pingdom, free tools, to test any page’s load time, analyze it, and find bottlenecks.
6. Infrequent Website Updates
Another of the main problems with outdated websites is basic neglect. Many businesses make the mistake of launching a website and promptly forgetting about it. That never works!
You can’t expect loads of website traffic just by buying a domain and launching a stock website. Your website needs TLC from time to time. You’ll have to work proactively on a website and tweak it to get serious business results.
If you do not update your website regularly, then it’s time for a website refresh. You’ll need to create compelling content, increase social media activity and monitor website traffic.
7. Low Lead Generation Results
Online visitors are more likely to trust and buy from a well-designed website than a mediocre one. You need a new website if you are not getting enough leads from your site.
You will improve your online lead-generation efforts by redesigning your website to meet user expectations. Good web design will imply trust and authority in visitors’ minds and motivate prospects to reach you via email or fill out the contact form.
8. Ineffective Call to Action
A Call to Action (CTA) is an essential web design element. CTA buttons inspire website visitors to engage with you. CTA’s could include sign-up forms for service quotes or an email newsletter, a contact form, appointment scheduling, free downloads, product sample requests, etc.
But you must place CTA buttons intelligently within web pages to increase conversions. Did you know that good UX design can increase conversions by up to 200%? A well-placed CTA button alone will improve your website conversion rate by 15 to 20%.
If you have a low website conversion rate, it means your visitors are not taking the action you want or need. And that is a clear indication that you need a better website.
9. No Social Media Engagement
Do you use social media for marketing your products and services? Social commerce and social selling are critical strategies for increasing online sales. And many businesses effectively use social media for brand building, social awareness, customer interaction, feedback gathering, etc.
90% of people buy from brands they follow on social media. Marketing Dive
Social media’s role in business is expanding, and more businesses are finding new customers from their social channels.
According to Statista, in 2021, 91.9 percent of US marketers in companies with more than 100 employees are expected to use social media for marketing purposes. In 2013, the share stood at 86.2 percent.
You need a website update if you do not have social sharing and commenting options on your website. Use a social media marketing tool to increase your reach, measure your engagement, and save valuable time!
10. No Company Blog
One of the best and simplest ways to gain organic search engine traffic is to write post blog entries. Creating new content on the website gives site visitors incentives to come back for more insightful content.
If you don’t have a blog on your website, consider adding one to your site. Writing compelling blog posts is an effective way to increase both search rankings and website engagement.
11. Change of Brand or Audience
Business is fluid, and inevitably you will pivot and grow over time. Maybe you’ve developed a new product offering, revenue model, secondary target audience, or changed your address? All of these are reasons that you may need a new website.
You need to show that on your website if you’ve gone through a business change with customer-facing implications. Having updated and correct information on your website builds credibility and makes your website trustworthy. Having an outdated website creates the opposite impression.
12. Outdated Design Elements
One of the most common problems with outdated websites is outdated design elements. These include page layouts with the HTML table element, splash or intro pages, or anything that still uses Flash. No one uses these anymore, as CSS is a more robust design and development tool.
If your website contains any of these elements, and a few sites still do, it is time you got a new website! An outdated website is not mobile-friendly, contains invalid HTML code, and is not SEO-friendly. They have got to go!
13. Not Being Able to Update Your Website
Unable to make simple website updates is another frequent problem with outdated websites. Do you need to contact (and pay) your website developer or programmer for every little change that you need on your website? That alone is a reason you need a better website!
I strongly recommend you use a Content Management System (CMS) to build and manage your website. That will allow you to update your content and make minor tweaks to your website, all without knowing any code.
14. Outdated Website Content
If you have not updated your website for a long time, there is a high chance that your content is outdated. If your website ties into your business goals, you should ensure fresh and relevant content.
And if you desire organic traffic from search engines, don’t forget to craft content with keyword research to boost SEO results.
How to Fix Problems with Outdated Websites?
If you are unsure whether your website is up to par, hire a web development company to perform a comprehensive website audit. The results will allow you to identify the shortcomings of your current site and improve upon them.
You may already be aware that your website is not working as well as before. Perhaps you noticed a significant drop in website visitors. Maybe you are not getting as many inbound leads as before.
Or your business associates or clients mentioned a specific problem, such as pages not loading fast enough or not providing optimal mobile user experience.
Whatever the reason, you must eliminate these shortcomings or risk a further decline of your online reach and engagement.
Where to Get Started
You can eliminate many problems through a simple website redesign or a new site altogether. Of course, the required action or remedy will depend on the state of your business website or online store.
The fix will be relatively simple if you lack some fresh content or a company blog. On the other hand, if your website is not mobile-first, you have a more significant project on your hands.
Take a look at some key website redesign considerations. Learn more about essential elements for a successful business website, how to improve your website UX, or how many business website pages you will need.
That should give you a better idea of what you must do to update or improve to fix problems with outdated websites!
Need more help? Here are a few tips for reducing shopping cart abandonment and increasing landing page conversions.
We Can Fix Problems with Outdated Websites!
Here at PixoLabo, we offer a full range of WordPress website consulting and design services for businesses and product brands, including custom web design and development, e-commerce solutions, search engine optimization, brand design, and WordPress optimization.
And if you are still unsure how to fix any of these problems, don’t worry! Reach out and contact us. Our expert team will listen to you, answer your questions, and find the best way for your business to get the online presence you need. That is one of our specialties, after all!
Did You Eliminate These Problems?
So, did you fix any of the common problems of outdated websites? Which ones were the most critical, and how did you fix them? Did you get a new website, or are you considering it?
Please feel free to comment below so our audience can benefit and grab our feed, so you don’t miss our next post! And feel free to share our post with your audience!
Thank you! We appreciate your help ending bad business websites, one pixel at a time!
By Gregor Saita
Co-Founder / CXO
@gregorsaita
