Think of the last time you shared your website link with someone. How did you feel? Was it a proud “Here is my website!” business card handover? Or more of an awkward “Sorry if it looks messy…”? Though your best friends and clients appreciate your creative work unconditionally, hundreds of new people who land on your website might exit it in less than 10 seconds just because it doesn’t look appealing. Today, we encourage you to ask yourself all the difficult questions. Does your site need an urgent revamp? Or do you still have 1-2 years before you have to go through a redesign process? Keep reading to find out!
6 signs your Squarespace site needs an update
6 signs your Squarespace websites needs an update:
1. Your site feels like déjà-vu
In today’s world, users have high expectations of how a website should feel and look. If you still have a generic Squarespace template, you might be losing potential clients, just because your website is not memorable and it doesn’t stand out. Get a website that is tailored to your brand voice and your clientele. A good website is one of those important business investments that will pay off in the long term, especially if you work in the creative industry. If you feel like your website still belongs to the early 2000s, you might want to consider a new look.
2. You’ve outgrown your brand
In a growth-oriented market, brands’ dynamics change very fast. A big part of the information that you’ve put on your website half a year ago might be outdated already, not to mention the content from 2 years ago. There are many reasons why your brand might look outgrown: your activity and services change as the business shifted, you have a different team or location now, or the most common one - your photography style has changed and matured over the years and your site doesn’t show that. It is very important that your website reflects what you do, otherwise, you may be attracting the wrong type of clients.
3. You want to update your pricing
Besides the obvious visual benefits, a redesign is an indispensable marketing tool to adjust/update your pricing. Looking to change your investment packages? Great! You can support the change with a website redesign.
4. You’re not attracting the right clientele
Is your site attracting the right type of clients? It is important to position yourself and your brand with your ideal client in mind, otherwise you might be attracting the customers you don’t want. Filter out your galleries, and exclude those images that don’t represent the type of work you want to do. If you’re a photographer who doesn’t want to shoot editorials - remove all of them from your online portfolio. Ideally, your website should serve as a filter for all the people that land on it, and convert only those who you want to work with.
5. You care about your website’s SEO
You probably already know about the importance of SEO. At the same time, ask yourself: is your website really SEO-friendly? And by that, we mean - do you have an active blog? Is the content on your website up-to-date? Are your landing pages converting well?
Google likes websites that are readable. Beautiful images with text on them added through Photoshop or Canva don’t serve you well enough, as the text can’t be read by Google bots, hence it doesn’t add up towards your SEO. Having clear H1, H2, H3, and meta descriptions on your website can help. Pay attention if your website is mobile-friendly. This is what search engines take into account when ranking your site in search results. Each time you update your site, Google indexes your new pages and your ranking gets recalculated. Keep in mind, a well-designed website, with useful content on the blog and a pleasant user experience is more likely to be shared and referred to, as it will get more backlinks and better SEO results for your site. If you feel like your website doesn’t have that in place - consider updating.
6. Your site lacks visual hierarchy
Visual hierarchy means the order in which a user processes the information on a page. The main goal of a good website is to present information to visitors in a clear and coherent way. The font combinations, the text size, the buttons’ shape and color, as well as your site background choice - all of these have a huge influence on your website user experience. Ideally, a site that has the right color contrast, typography sizing, and alignment will smoothly guide users, help them navigate your site, so they don’t get frustrated while trying to find the “book me” button. If your Squarespace site doesn’t have the means to offer that to your client - it’s time for an update.
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So, how did you do? If you found yourself nodding to at least 2 of these signs, consider updating for next year! If you don’t know where to get started, we’ve got your back. Having helped thousands of creative clients & photography businesses for over 10 years, we can proudly say that we know how to build a website that converts to sales. Our Design Kits will make your website stand out from the crowd & look custom, at the price of a template. Check all our available designs here. Bonus: Get a 20% discount on all design kits, when you use code HAPPYMUSE20 at checkout.
Want to see real site examples of Squaremuse clients? Visit our showcase page.