This is the unfortunate part of the web. If you have great content but the style is not up to date, it can have a negative impact no matter how unique your content is. So here are 8 things that could be making you look outdated.
The use of too many colors
Nowadays, we are reign in the color use. Color should be used to draw the user's eye to the most critical elements on the screen. It's not so much what colors are used but how they are used. Keeping your background white will allow visual space for the eye to relax.
Outdated fonts or icons
Be careful with the use of fonts and icons. You shouldn't use more than two fonts on one screen. A good breakdown of this would be one font for headers and another for sub-headers. Make sure to use well-known and established fonts such as fonts from google fonts so that it will render correctly no matter what search engine is being used. As far as icons, look for icons that are thin lines and have transparent backgrounds and be sure that you stick to one style throughout the site.
Heavy text content
Try to be concise, no matter how enlightened or amazing the content is on your webpage. You can say things in bulleted lists or illustrations to get your point across. Also, break the content into sections with the main point per section, and be sure not to have text across the entire screen.
Mobile friendly
We need to make sure that our websites are mobile-friendly. This is a must-have as customers do not tolerate non-mobile-friendly sites. Also, this can impact your google ranking if your site is not mobile-friendly. Most site builders have the option to optimize your mobile version, and this is always a good idea!
Outdated copy
Make sure your copy is up to date. Remember, people are coming to the site for a reason, and it's essential to keep things up to date. Most importantly, the copywriting script that is usually found in the footer should reflect the current year. The blog is another area that is a dead giveaway from when the website was last updated. Make sure those dates are staying recent.
Navigation
Something that has phased itself out over time is the need for a designated home link in the navigation. Now we use the logo on the right side of the navigation to return the user to the home screen, making that home link obsolete and dating your website to the early two thousand.
Broken links and images
There should not be images or links that are broken. This can happen when things sit too long, and sources are not connected anymore. This will give off the impression that the site has been abandoned and will not hold any relevant content.
Space
Lastly would be giving everything more space. If you look at high-profile sites, there is a common simple thing separating all elements on the screen: space. Allow the user's eyes to rest and move to the next element. There is no reason to cram as much information into a small space as we are not concerned with scroll. Users will scroll if the content and design are good.
Last thoughts
If you are worried that you might be sporting a dated website and you would like help evaluating your specific website, we would be thrilled to take a look! Just reach out!
