Number one reason and, in my opinion, probably the most important, is security. Especially if you are using an open source platform like Joomla, WordPress, Drupal and Magento just to name a few. What do I mean by this? Well there is a massive community of web hackers, and these guys are not always after the big banks and asset collateral. More often than not these are annoyance hackers just seeing if they can. Easily accessible to this community are open source web platforms. If you are running old software then you are most likely also not on top of your security patching. This leaves the door open.
Don’t get me wrong here, we are big supporters of open source platforms and technology. This allows for rapid development. We use a number of these systems along with our very own Scribblevision CMS to develop interactive, responsive and engaging websites for clients. What we do however is install our security system that helps protect against all kinds of web attacks. Without going all tech on you, we can basically monitor and block attacks. It is very important to stay on top of security patching. This is not always as simple as running an install script as you must make sure the system changes in the patch or upgrade are compatible with your website build. This is where having the support of a professional website developer comes in handy.
But hold up, I hear you saying, isn’t the most important thing for my website to rank well on Google? Well it is important but, if your site gets hacked you face all kinds of issues from getting the site back under control and removing all the malicious scripts and injections to being blacklisted by site security websites, Google included. Once you are blacklisted, getting your site back up the rankings is a tricky job. So yes the most important aspect is security and making sure your website is well protected.
Now that the big issue of security is out of the way let’s focus on the benefits of running up-to-date technology under the hood of your website. Web technology moves very fast, so fast in fact that if cars were to progress as quickly as web and tech we would be able to fly to the moon and back by now. That being said we try to recommend a major system upgrade every two years with incremental security and system updates as they become available. The best benefit to utilise state of the art website programming is quite simple in a technical kind of way. My favourite reason is usability. This is how interaction with your website is rendered and what visual cues enable easy use and clarity. The benefits of this are clear in that when someone, be it a client, potential client or a visitor who then tells a potential client, enjoys the interaction with your website or app so much that they get in touch or recommend to someone else.
Another clear reason is as technology gets better so does performance, and performance by way of page speed helps in a number of ways. The end user loves a fast website – let’s face it, no one liked dial up! This along with the obvious SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and page rank benefits help to make it clear why an upgrade is not something to overlook.
So with the technical side of website upgrades covered let’s take a look at probably the most important benefit of all. Is your website performing for your business? If you are a business owner and the reason for your website is to attract potential customers or to service your current clients, then making sure you deliver an easy-to-use, clear and attractive website that delivers a user experience that is enjoyable should be a top priority. If you get a coffee from somewhere and it tastes terrible, you will probably get your next one somewhere else. Same goes if a potential customer is on your website and it doesn’t work on the mobile they are using or is just clunky and hard to use, they are more likely than not going to check out the next competitor. I’m not saying that you should all rush out and spend a huge amount on a website. There are many options at all price levels to get you a professional, easy-to-use website that can engage and interact with your potential customers.
So just to round up a little and to apologise for my writing skills. I’m not by any means a blogger or a writer. I am just giving you a little insight to the reasoning for a website upgrade or, if needed, a new website altogether. There are many reasons why you would have a website. If you have a business website then ultimately your key here is to engage with prospective customers and create a relationship with a new client or to facilitate an ongoing relationship. Here at Scribblevision we believe people should come before technology and that we should use up-to-date tech to help with communication and not hinder it. The big idea is to use technology to open the lines of communication for people. Make your website as easy to use as possible and make it engaging and interactive. We have the tools and knowhow at our fingertips and it is more affordable than you might think!
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