Think about your business’ website. If it’s the first impression someone has of your business, what is it telling them? Are you modern? Thorough? Helpful? Accessible? Useful? Your website should be able to convert browsers into buyers just like a human salesperson.
If the answer to any of these questions is no, it might be time to take a deeper look at your number one marketing tool. Many times your website is the first “face” a potential customer sees, so you want to make sure that it makes a good first impression and sets that potential customer on a path to becoming a happy, loyal customer.
You put in the work to build a great site but that was a few years ago and even with proper care and maintenance, it’s starting to show its age. Undertaking a website redesign can be daunting so the process maybe gets delayed and put off. We understand.
At the end of the day, we want your website to be in perfect alignment with your business goals. Sometimes that means reviewing and adjusting your content, but sometimes it can mean a bigger overhaul. So how do you know when it’s time to redesign your website?
9 Reasons to Redesign Your Website
It looks outdated
This is one of the most common concerns we hear when people come to us for a new website. Web design trends, as well as technology, change over time just like fashion or interior design. What was modern and cutting edge one year looks old just a few years later. When your website looks outdated, it can make your business either look neglected at best, or abandoned at worst. If Parks & Recreation or Mad Men was still airing new episodes when your site was built, it’s time for a refresh.
What makes a website look outdated?
There are many things that can make visitors think, “wow, that’s an old website”, but these are just a few we look out for:
- Narrow, boxed design
- Small type that’s hard to read on modern monitors
- Splash pages
- Animated gifs
- Background music that auto-plays
- Old stock photos
- Not using HTTPS
- Using Flash animations
It’s not responsive/mobile-friendly
How much of your traffic comes from mobile devices? You do have Google Analytics installed right? For most businesses, most of their website visitors are on mobile devices. If your site isn’t mobile-friendly – you have to pinch and zoom, click targets are tiny, font is too small, etc. – then you’re not only going to be harder to find in search (Google hates it when you make people pinch and zoom), but people who end up on your site on their phones won’t have a very good experience.
Gone too are the days of having a separate website just for mobile visitors. People now expect to be given the same information and content regardless of device. Responsive design, where the designs shifts and adapts to screen size, is the best solution for taking your desktop-only site and making it mobile-friendly. It’s also our standard for website design.
Having frustrated website visitors is never a good business strategy so this is another clear sign you need to redesign your website this year.
It isn’t user-friendly or is hard to navigate
Do you have so much content that it’s hard to organize? Do you have flyout menus that refuse to stay open? Links that are too small to be touched by a thumb on a phone? A search that ignores half the site? Any of these issues can make your site hard to navigate or use. The more challenging a website is to use, the less likely it will be to convert any visitors into sales leads or customers.
To get the most out of your website you really want to reduce as much friction as possible to get that site visitor to respond to a call to action.
It’s challenging to update
You’ve got great intentions. Lots of ideas for great content to help you generate more leads and sales. Timely events and updates for your customers. But your website has other ideas. Maybe your site doesn’t have a content management system (CMS) or maybe you were never trained on how to use it. Perhaps your site was so custom designed and built that it won’t allow you to move or add anything new. Or maybe you’ve only been given limited access to change text and you need to call a developer each time you want something more.
The more challenging it is for you to add or change content on your website the less likely you are to do it leading to site stagnation and neglect. Not good for anyone. But it doesn’t have to be like that. We firmly believe in training and empowering our clients, as well as giving them the tools they need, to manage their websites long after our project is complete.
If you struggle to update the content on your website, it might be time for a redesign.
You’re always fixing something
Over time, a website that once worked well may start to frustrate you. Content gets outdated, plugins stop being supported, and the site becomes sluggish. Something breaks. If you’re spending more time fighting to keep your website online instead of providing value to your customers then it might be time to consider a redesign. A poorly designed website is harmful not only to your customers but to the team that maintains it.
Once you get to a point where you start to feel like MacGyver having to come up with new ways to keep your website running, it’s time to consider a redesign/rebuild.
You want to add new functionality to your website
As your business grows and matures, so should your website. You may want to add new functionality to your site, like eCommerce, online booking, live chat, or more. To do this you’ll need to have a website built on a platform that will integrate with external services.
This is just one of the many reasons we use WordPress as our CMS of choice. Its standard functionality can be extended in a myriad of ways and connects with many, many external partners.
If your current website has limited functionality, it’s time for a redesign.
It doesn’t reflect your business goals
Has your brand evolved since your last website was built? Does your current site match the aesthetic and personality of your company?
Since your current website was built, have you launched new products or changed your services? Has your website changed to reflect that?
It’s important that your site reflects your current strategy and service offerings so you don’t lose customers to your competitors. This is especially important if you know that your potential clients go to your website before they give you a call or send you an email.
If your website doesn’t reflect your company accurately, it’s time to redesign.
You need to drive more traffic to your website
You can have the greatest looking website in the world but if no one sees it, it won’t help your business. To drive traffic to your site, it needs to be optimized for search, both organic and paid.
Having a strategy for creating landing pages and blog articles is essential in the modern digital marketing landscape.
Websites that feature a blog have a 434% greater chance of being ranked highly on search engines. You read that right. Over 4x the chance of ranking if you have a blog that’s updated and maintained regularly.
You also want a site that will let you create a landing page for paid traffic that highlights specific offers your company has. These targeted pages will likely live outside of your site’s navigation and blog but are important to help you get more eyeballs on your products and services.
If your website doesn’t have a blog or landing pages, it’s time for a redesign.
You want to convert more visitors into leads or sales
Now that you’ve got regular traffic coming to your site, are you turning them into customers? Are you giving them a clear path from discovery to purchase? Do you have a plan to measure engagement with your site to know if it’s working or not?
Your site should tell visitors about who you are, what you do, and who your target audience is. Then, it should convince them to take the next step in becoming a customer. If your site is obscuring that behind cute graphics, or mystery navigation it’s time to take another look at it.
If you find that you’re getting unrelated or unwanted queries you may want to have a hard look at your content. Does your site accurately state your products and services? Does it answer customers questions before they ask them? Is it possible for someone to misunderstand your offerings? Overall, it’s more important for your business to have 50 of the right visitors to your website than 500 of the wrong ones.
If you want to convert more visitors, it might be time for a redesign.
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How much does it cost to redesign a website?
Well… it depends. It might not be the answer you’re looking for, but there are many factors that go into pricing a web design project. Factors that can affect the overall price include how many pages you need, what types of functionality you need, and whether you already have marketing assets or need them created. When you contact us for a website design we’ll have a discovery call where we learn all about you and your project and then we’ll put together a no-obligation quote that outlines everything we talked about. We know web projects can be large so we also offer monthly payment plans.
Book a call today to share your goals, learn about our experience and discuss a high-level timeline and budget range.
At Newfound Marketing, our goal is to help your business grow its online presence through social media and online advertising. We take care of the whole web design process – from SEO research, to designing and custom-coding your website. If any of the above points resonated with you, contact us for a free website audit today!
