Let’s talk about when you know it’s time to modernize your site. You know that having a beautiful, high-converting site is important. In the digital age we’re living in, a site that attracts the right leads and then converts them is key — and every successful business should have one.
However, there’s definitely a big keeping-up-with-the-Joneses aspect to website building, huh?
Basically, everywhere — and every time — you look, everyone’s websites seem to have gotten better than yours. Whether it’s video hero images or fancy new site navigation, it can seem impossible to keep up.
But, who on earth has the money to get a new custom website design every single year? It’s exhausting.
Well, here’s the thing: you don’t need a new custom website design every year. Heck, you don’t even need a new template! What you do need, though? Simple ways to modernize and boost your site presence that are easy, simple, and inexpensive.
4 Ways to Modernize Your Site
Really, keeping your site looking fresh all lies in a little bit of strategy. You don’t need to get new brand photos, you don’t need to contact yet another site designer, and you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Here’s how to modernize your site without the price tag.
Modernize Your Site Using Mock-Ups
Mock-ups are an aesthetically pleasing way to display anything from your designs to presentations, and they’re a super easy way to uplevel your marketing strategy on social, within your email list, and directly on your site. Plus, they don’t require a graphic design degree to figure out! Really, all you do is drag and drop. It’s the best.
Uno Dos Trae Tip: Our accelerator cohort has access to our collection of ready-to-use mockups and templates inside our Uno resource library, but you can also snag mock-up templates from Creative Market. You can even grab some from Canva (sign up for a free account here!).
Invest in Some On-Brand Stock Photos
Stock photos might have a bad rap, but they don’t have to. Actually, they’re probably the simplest way to elevate your website presence instantly. If you’re picturing an awkward photo of a man eating an apple or a not-so-cute laptop flatlay, you’re not looking in the right place. Promise.
Uno Dos Trae Tip: There are tons of great resources online for stock photos, and they’re not mega-expensive either. Some favorites? Hautestock, Stocksy, Moyo Studio, Social Squares, Social Curator, and Styled Stock Society. If you’re looking for something free, Unsplash is an option — but free does mean that everyone else will be using the same photos as you, which can dilute your impact.
Take The Backgrounds Out of Your Photos
Do you ever have an amazing photo of yourself, your team, or your product that you want to put up… but it’s too busy to use? Been there. Good news, though — long gone are the days where removing the background out of a photo needs an hour of tinkering around in Photoshop. It’s easy to do, and is a great way to freshen up a photo and reuse it over and over again.
Uno Dos Trae tip: You can do this on Canva (sign up here!), or just visit a site like remove.bg. SO easy!
Speed Up Your Site
At the end of the day, a slow website is pretty much the biggest indicator of a site that needs a little bit of work. There are a few things that can cause a slow site, but the biggest culprit? Images that are way too long and need extra time to download. If your images are the right size, you may want to consider moving hosts or paring down some of your plugins.
Uno Dos Trae tip: Our preferred website, Showit, automatically downsizes images (theeee best)! If you’re hosting your website on another site platform, there are some free services like Sqoosh or TinyJPG that can compress your images for you.
We’re all about using easy ways to boost and modernize your site, but we’re also the team you want to go to if you’re looking for a little extra somethin’-somethin.’ Sound like you? Our Showit website templates are responsive and stunning, and they’re perfect for upping your online presence… fast.
