The Old Faithful dog
Old faithful has been around since it was a pup. You've nurtured it, trained it and taught it all sorts of tricks. It's been reliable, too, which is why you've spent all that money on food, housing and medical care.
But now the old tricks don't look so clever any more, and it's too old to teach new ones. By now you hardly give it a thought, it's taken so much for granted - except, perhaps, for those times when a visitor says "Gosh that dog looks old."
You know that, of course, but it's been so faithful that you don't have the heart to put it down - rather, just let it die peacefully and then you'll get a replacement.
The Old Faithful website
Old faithful websites are easily recognised - they've hardly changed since they were first built. And it really shows.
It might be that your business has moved on and the website was left alone. Maybe the costs of changing it were too high, or you couldn't find the original developer.
It might even be that it worked really well when it was first built, and you didn't want to fix what wasn't broken.
But what set you apart as being ahead of your competitors in the past doesn't cut it any longer. The language and "look and feel" of websites have rapidly changed. Users' expectations have evolved to the point where they want answers from your website instantly. Simply having a website for its own sake no longer makes you a leader; it is more likely to damage your business than help it. After all, your competitors all have websites too.
If visitors go to your website and it's out of date, or it looks like a 90's relic, it immediately identifies your business as out of date too. It might even give the impression that you've gone out of business.
Search engine optimisation won't help either - if old faithful doesn't have what it takes any more, making it more visible or sending more visitors to it merely gives them the opportunity to decide that you're not worth doing business with.
There's a temptation to let things sit until it dies of its own accord, but old websites don't just die. They lurk around in cyberspace, doing more and more damage to their owners the older they get.
One thing's for sure about old faithful websites - they do more harm than good for their owners.
How to recognise when you have an old faithful website
- Your customers are telling you that you'd better do something about your website.
- The level of enquiries has dropped off.
- You need to make changes but you can't locate the original designer.
- You need to make changes but you can't get access to the original files.
- Prospects are enquiring about obsolete products.
- You still think that having a successful website is about programming, computers, graphic design and IT.
- Your off-line advertising has a different look and feel to your website.
How to ensure a thoroughbred website
SnapSite will work with you through each of the important steps to website success. We can help you develop operational and strategic business battle plans that will give your business the potent advantage of having more than just a website.
Snapsite provide strategies, systems and services to take your business beyond the limitations of just having a website