When considering the top priorities of your association, having a functional and beautiful looking website is usually towards the top of your list. However, the high cost of a web redesign can deter many managers from taking action. When you weigh your budget with other important priorities, rebuilding your site often falls to the back burner. Jenna Christensen, digital strategist at our parent company, ArcStone, says that though web design can be costly, many “organizations rarely stop to think what the daily or yearly costs associated with having a less than stellar website really are”.
To expand on this thought, think of the ways in which a poor performing website could cost you. If your site is hard to find, you’ll see low web traffic rates. Maybe people are finding your site but your content is confusing or lacks authenticity, causing a high bounce rate. Or, perhaps your site isn’t aesthetically pleasing. Researchers at The University of Melbourne found that “online consumer trust is intricately linked with site design”; would you trust a website that has weird formatting, sketchy links, and blurry pictures? Probably not. We’re psychologically wired to trust things that look good and as the study goes on to say “our offline behavior and inclinations translate to our online existence.”
As you consider all of these issues combined, it’s easy to understand how a bad website could really hurt your business.
If you’re convinced a website design may be in order, let’s dig a little deeper. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with the amount of work a redesign can take – before you dive down the hole, consider the questions below. They’ll help you determine the focus and scope of your redesign while also prioritizing what needs to come first.
1. Are you losing out on potential members or sponsors?
Is your membership / sponsorship information confusing or hard to find? If people don’t know what you do, there’s a small chance they’ll want to be a part of your group or provide financial support.
Key takeaway: Make sure your content is simple and straightforward, with a little spice of your association’s personality too so members / sponsors know exactly what they’re getting into. Show them that joining or sponsoring your group is easy, painless, most importantly, very worthwhile.
2. Are you spending hundreds or thousands of dollars a year on paid advertising that is falling flat due to your old website?
If you’re running paid advertisements – whether it’s through social media, the local radio station, billboards or an AdWords campaign – you’ll want to be sure to really utilize the engagement and traffic they generate. It’s likely that interested individuals will navigate to your site to do further research. If their experience is less than optimal, the money spent on your advertisements goes to waste. Jenna reiterates this idea with a specific example about AdWords; “a poor on-page experience can negatively impact ad rank, which can impact your cost per click and overall position using AdWords”. Now, not only have you invested money into creating an AdWords campaign but you’re forced to pay even more in ranking because of your site.
Key takeaway: After creating a thoughtful ad campaign across your selected platforms, look at the user experience of your site. Is it friendly? Engaging? Easy to navigate? Visualize what it’s like to see your site for the first time and note what works and what doesn’t.
3. Is your team doing tedious, manual work that could be done automatically using the right tools and integrations?
The first step to rectifying this issue is using an association management system like AMO. This way, all your data and tasks are in one location. However, even when an association is utilizing a software like AMO, we still see managers wasting time doing manual work because they’re not fully utilizing the tools within the system. If this is you, sign up for training or check out the support center.
Key Takeaway: By taking time to educate yourself and your staff, you’ll not only feel more confident in operating your site / software but also save time and money in the long run.
After some thoughtful reflection on these questions, you are now able to make an educated decision on whether or not your site needs a redesign. If your limited budget is what is holding you back, look to the next few years and see where a redesign could fit in. For now, it may just be incremental updates that can help increase your website performance and increase leads.
Need help with a redesign but unsure of where to start? Contact us at 612-381-9951.