Is Your Website Like a VHS Tape?

Take off your "rose-colored glasses"!
Take off your “rose-colored glasses”!

Sure, you remember VHS tapes, don’t you? Even my teens remember watching Pokémon video tapes from the library. But try to find a VHS tape for sale at the store or even a VHS player and you’re simply out of luck. This is exactly where some websites will be in the very near future.

I recently spoke to a client about a responsive website redesign and his comment was “it looks good to me on my phone”. Another said “as long as I can see it on my iPad and desktop, I’m fine.” What both don’t realize is that they should not be designing for their own technology use, but for Google and the world. So the question to ask now is, “Is your website like a VHS tape?”

Here are the questions you should ask yourself:

1. Am I planning for the future? If I do not upgrade my website this next year will browsers and smartphones still be able to see my site? Will my site appear broken for those users?

2. Will my site still be found in the search indexes if I do not upgrade my technology? Google has already stated that it will be filtering out of the mobile search space after April 21, 2015 websites that are not mobile-friendly. Where will your site place in one year? How about two years?

3. How much of my current traffic is from smartphones and tablets. If it is over 50% and I do not have a mobile friendly site, how will users find me?

4. If I advertise on Google AdWords and my website is not mobile-friendly will Google stop showing my ads to this important and growing market?

It makes perfect sense to do nothing with your old website if you are retiring this next year, but if you are still counting on your website to bring in leads and traffic now and in the future, you would be wise to be moving forward by moving to  a new responsive website. Don’t look at your website from your own technology considerations. it is time to take off your rose-colored glasses and see your website the way others AND Google see it.