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Ask Haley: How can I tell if my website is outdated?

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Q: How long does it take for a website to become outdated?

A: Three to four years. At least, that’s the most widely held belief in the web development world. But for your site, the answer really is, “It depends!”

  • It depends on your goals, and how well your current site is working.
  • It depends on changes that have occurred in your company, and how well your website matches the image you want to portray.
  • It depends on how you want to service clients and candidates, and whether or not your website delivers sufficient value in the service process.
  • It depends on technology, and how well your website addresses current trends both in staffing software and the way people browse websites.
  • And it depends on the results you are getting today…are you seeing consistent improvement in traffic to your site and conversion of visitors to active clients and job seekers?

While three to four years is a common measure for the life of a website, the truth is some websites are outdated less than a year after they are launched. And others may last five to seven years (for the record, we have actually never seen a website last more than five years and still be effective!).

So how can you tell if your website is outdated?
Here are some warning signs to watch out for to ensure that your site isn’t prematurely showing its age.

How’s your appearance?
More people will visit your website than will ever step foot in your offices. Your site needs to make a great first impression. Does yours?

Your site should have a clean design that instantly tells people what you do and why you are different.  It should have bold images that grab people’s attention while still matching your company’s personality.  Most importantly, your website should highlight the features that employers and job seekers want most.

Does your site pass these tests?  If not, you’re outdated.

How’s your navigation?
A great website is intuitive. Visitors can instantly tell where they should go to find the information they seek.

If people can’t immediately find the information they want, they aren’t going to stick around. Clean and simple navigation, organized and relevant content,  and clear direction are instrumental in helping your website thrive.

Put yourself in your clients’ shoes when viewing your website; would you know where to go or what to do once you visit? If not, or if improvements are needed, you’re outdated.

How does your site work on an iPhone? iPad? Android device?
Mobile use of the web is growing at an exponential rate. At Haley Marketing, we track usage on more than 200 staffing websites.  In the past year alone, we have seen a 300% increase in staffing websites being viewed on mobile devices.

Is your website ready for the mobile world? Your talent pool expects to be able to view jobs on their phones. Employers want to be able to get information about your firm and your services wherever they are working.

Is your website mobile optimized? If not, you’re outdated.

How’s your SEO?
Search engines drive an amazing amount of traffic to staffing websites. In fact, staffing companies that have robust SEO plans get significantly more traffic (200% to more than 1,000%) than companies that do not. And those companies with active SEO plans get 35-40% of their visitors from search engines while the companies without SEO get less than 20% of their traffic from these same search engines.

So, if your SEO plan isn’t driving 35% or more of your web traffic, and you’re not seeing big increases in visitors to your website, you’re outdated.

So,  is it time for a new website?
These are just a few of the warning signs that your website may be prematurely aging. If you’re seeing some of these signs, or you’d like us to critique your site, we’d be more than happy to share our thoughts.

Please contact us at 1-888-696-2900 for a complimentary review of your website.

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