There are a few things to consider when judging the age of your website many more than we discuss here but these few are a good place to start.
Functionality
You should check your websites functionality somewhat often especially if you use any back-end for e-commerce, content delivery, etc. This can help you identify potential issues down the road like slow performance or bad content delivery. You should also check your outbound links to other sites or services to make sure that they are still viable and working.
If you are running a blog it’s not a bad idea to thumb through the archive in order to make sure your posts still contain relevant content, proper images, and working outbound links. Nothing shows a site’s age like content that has broken image icons and dead links everywhere.
How do you compare?
Take a moment to judge just how well does your site compare to your competitors? Do they have a slick new layout? Did they add some new functionality that gives them an edge? Or have they simply stayed on top of their site’s content with regular updates and engaged their audience in order to produce better search ranking? Whether you like it or not someone out there is competing with you for the share of interested audience and if you don’t pay attention you’ll find that your share is going to be a lot smaller.
Are you relevant?
It is 2016 does your site still contain content more relevant to 2001 versus today? Your site has to be relevant not just to the audience you wish to appeal to but the time period they live in as well. Be mindful of your content, images, colors, tools, or the lack there of when compared to your competitors websites. If your images on the site contain images of dated technology, aged terminology, or maybe pictures of people wearing styles from the last decade then maybe it might just be time for a refresh.
Do you share?
Do you have a Facebook profile? Do you use Instagram? Do you tweet? These are all social media applications that other businesses are using on their website to generate content, share information, and even drive new traffic to their page. If you do have all of these do they integrate with your website? Not all social media is applicable to all businesses but used creatively their power can surprise you.
Security
Does your site generate a lot of junk mail? If you only get a mailbox full of spam you just may have a security issue with a form on your website. Now if you have an issue with a form just how secure is the rest of your website? Security changes with the times and if your website is out of date most likely it is unsecured.
Does your website still carry your voice?
This is the most important thing to consider. When you look at your website does it speak to you regarding your business now? Or does it remind you where your business was five years ago? Your website is like any other external facing marketing material for your business because it represents you and gives many their first impression of your business. So take a look and see what your website says to you now about your business.
