6 Important Reasons To Redesign Your Website

It’s extremely important for any business to have a nice, easy-to-use responsive website. Many potential customers research your company’s online presence as well as your competitors before contacting you about your services. First impressions are key in keeping the attention of your target market so you may need to consider a redesign.

Many understand the importance of a user-friendly site and see how the current one can be better, but are unsure about when to start the process.

A website redesign always takes a bit of work whether or not, you do it yourself or hire a an expert to do it for you. It takes time and a budget. But, the excitement of having a brand new online presence at the end of the project is priceless!

Here are 6 reasons that may help you determine the right time to redesign your website:

1. It looks outdated.

Companies redesign their websites for many reasons, but the main one is that it looks old. Many companies have websites that look like they were designed 10 years ago. Even non-designers can tell they’re outdated. This could hurt the business if clients are choosing between competitors.  Clients go with a company’s that have a nice, easy-to-use website as it provides the assurance that the company is growing and relevant.

2. It’s not responsive & is hard to navigate on devices.

It was simple for companies to maintain their desktop-only sites several years ago when people didn’t use their phone and tablets to shop, order food, research and connect on social media. Not today!  Customers may be looking at your site from a desktop, laptop, tablet or phone. They expect a consistent experience from all of these devices. If they put a product in their cart on a phone, it should be there when they go to the site on their laptop. They may want to research on the go and share later with friends and business partners. You may lose these people as customers if your site isn’t consistent across all devices.

3. It is hard to navigate & hard to use.

Do you check what your competitors are doing? How often? Unfortunately, many don’t pay research their competition until it’s too late. Technology is always updating and changing. A 6-month old website is a 1 year old website in technology timeline. People that are with the latest trends understand user behavior changes. A lot of that is based on the “ease-of-use.”  Do your research. See what people in your market are doing on their sites. Check out the new features they are using. See what the top companies are doing and use it in your website to give a nice experience to your potential customers and convert them into actual customers. Build your website so that it can grow with your business and so that it’s ready when you want to add new features.

4. It does not reflect your company’s business strategy.

Business strategies change. New products and services get offered. All of these changes should be reflected online. It’s important that your site reflects your new strategy and services so you don’t lose customers to your competition. Your potential clients go to your website before they contact you. They need to see the current state of your business and check for legitimacy. If your online presence is not reflecting that, it’s time to redesign.

 5. You can’t update the content.

I attended the Inbound marketing conference last year. A key point that was mentioned several times was, content can set you apart from the competition and get the right message to your target market.  This is done through text, videos, tutorials, how-to’s, etc. Content marketing has become very important.  It plays a large role in your business success and growth. Being able to update and add new content is key, and you should be able to easily do this through a content management system. Also, make sure that your website is optimized for SEO, which will help your marketing..

6. Things on the site don’t work properly.

Design is not only the way things look. It is also the way something functions. Good development is important. If you have an awesome looking site that doesn’t work properly, users leave because features are not functioning. Then, you will lose business. I have heard people complain that their online shopping cart is not working or is too hard to use, and it still takes the company months before it’s easier to use. Honestly, you could loose more business in the time it takes of fix the problem which would cost you more than a website redesign.

Do you think your website is in need of a redesign?

Contact Us for a free website evaluation.