You know your business needs a website.

But knowing that you’ll get real value from it is another story.

Some businesses have spent thousands of dollars on their website only to discover that it was, in effect, built to fail. No matter what they do, they can’t seem to attract the traffic they need to get their digital marketing efforts underway. That’s a huge setback, as their expensive website offers no ROI.

This realization might come right away, almost as soon as the website is complete.

Or it might come years down the line when a company decides to expect more from its website. Once you’re no longer content to treat a website like a fancy digital brochure – when you want to meet new customers and close agreements through it – it needs to meet a whole new set of demands.

Either way, you might discover that your website is nowhere near up to the task.

No matter what industry you’re in or what size your business is, you might find yourself in one of these two situations. Each one is a symptom of the same basic underlying problem: A website design that isn’t focused on getting a bottom-line marketing value.

Often, incremental improvements won’t work. You need a complete website overhaul.

When Search Engine Optimization Is Missing from Your Website, It Can’t Perform

The goal of a functional business website is to attract the right online traffic and move those people from first-time visitors to paying customers. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the key to doing that.

When amateur designers are entrusted to make a business website, they usually don’t have SEO in mind. Search engine optimization takes a back seat to the latest fads. The website looks impressive.

That can leave you believing you’re getting a great value right up until it’s too late to change course.

Yes, a modern website is fast, secure, and easy to navigate. But search engine optimization happens at a deeper level. Without it, you won’t be able to capture higher positions in Google search. Even your best business blog posts and video storytelling will be relegated to search engines’ back pages. Almost no one looks beyond the second page of Google, so you can’t compete if you’re stuck there indefinitely.

In that situation, there’s nothing your website can do to justify its ongoing cost of ownership.

And if you find yourself there right now, website design may be a necessary evil. Often, that means starting over with a completely new website built from the ground up with your goals in mind. A strategic approach is a far cry from “design templates” that look good, but don’t deliver.

What Makes Some Websites Better at Search Engine Optimization than Others

Search engine optimization is a combination of best practices in website design and technology. It makes your website easier for humans to use while sending all the right signals to the search engine algorithms. And those “signals” need to be built into your website starting with its foundations.

To practice search engine optimization, you need to be aware of the exact words and phrases people are typing into search when they need information relevant to your business. But you must also meet the speed, security, and architectural standards Google now requires all websites to uphold.

A modern, efficient website doesn’t just look great. It’s also structured in an optimal way. This helps search “crawlers” discover all the pages on your website and build an understanding of what they’re about. It also enables search engines to verify your company’s details and see your website is secure.

Your marketing team operates on the keyword level, developing helpful and informative content built around human needs. But many of the other functions that make search engine optimization possible actually happen behind the scenes. The right technology needs to be interwoven into your design.

For example, a service-based business can get more traffic by using back-end search engine optimization tools. These tools let you monitor the appropriate use of keywords and observe how people are interacting with your content. That way, you know what works and what doesn’t.

One way to be certain you have access to these valuable tools is to use a website design based on WordPress. WordPress is a fast, secure, highly extensible website back-end. It gives you incredible control over a website’s appearance while also integrating powerful features of your choosing.

Once the right features have been selected, a professional marketing agency can help you make sure they’re being used to the utmost. This allows you to stay focused on what you do best while reaping a decisive SEO advantage. The sooner you start, the sooner that advantage makes a lasting difference.

An Established Marketing Agency Is Your Best Bet for a Website Design that Goes Beyond Aesthetics

Until recently, website design was rolled into the graphic design curriculum at colleges and universities. Would-be designers gained a lot of insight about how to “wireframe” a website and make it look good.

But all these functions can now be handled with the click of a button. The real strategy of a business website comes in how well it meets the needs of users – including both humans and search engines. That requires a deeper understanding of the psychology behind customer decisions.

This is why an independent designer who focuses on the “artistry” of website development is not usually best prepared to give you a website that will get you to the first page of Google. Even when a designer is saying all the right things on calls, the proof is in the verified performance of the website over time.

If you are getting no traction with a website, it’s a red flag. There may be fundamental problems with your website’s speed, security, or architecture that need to be fixed fast.

Don’t Let the Sunk Cost Fallacy Stop You from Getting a Better Website

If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.

That’s as true of your business website as any other part of your enterprise.

Unfortunately, all too many businesses have tunnel vision when it comes to a website. They want to get the ROI they were promised from their original design. Making big changes – which may require another investment – feels like admitting defeat. All the while, their existing website is pure overhead.

When they don’t break out of this thinking … nothing ever changes.

At New York Ave, we’re here to help you make an informed and confident decision. With our years of experience helping businesses grow and scale, we’re not like the other guys. Dedicated to transparency and proving value, we’ll work with you to make your website everything it should be.

The process is a whole lot easier than you might think.

Contact us today to find out more about your options.