However brilliant your website is, there comes a time where you will need to redesign it. Redesigning your website can be a daunting task and isn’t something you want to be doing every few months, but if you don’t do it often enough, your website won’t be showing your company in the best light and could be losing you business.
A lot of businesses have the outlook that “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” but with websites it’s not always that simple; there’s a difference between “not broken” and “in need of a whole redesign”.
Let’s say you have a pair of old shoes that have done you well over the years, but they are starting to look a bit worn, your options are to either get them repaired or buy a whole new pair. If they are still salvageable and fashionable, you’d get them repaired, but if they are out of fashion, you’d buy a whole new pair. This is very much like your website. If there are only minor tweaks to be made to your site these can be simply repaired, but if it is outdated, you’ll want a whole redesign.
Your website is your 24/7 salesman, you want to make sure you’re putting your best man forward.
How often you redesign your website depends on a number of factors:
- The age of your website
One factor to look at is the age of your website, but this should only be an indicator. You shouldn’t solely go by the age to determine if it needs redesigning or not. A website that’s 5 years old might be standing the test of time and in less need of a redesign than a website that’s only 2 years old. Obviously, if your website was made over 10 years ago it’s pretty safe to say it’s probably due a redesign.
- Your website looks outdated
How your website looks and feels will give more of an indictor rather than the age. If it looks and feels old, then it’s time for a redesign. Your website is like your home; people arrive and immediately make a first impressions of you and your brand, meaning you want to make sure it’s the best possible version it can be.
- Your website is not performing well
Technology factors a have a massive influence on how well your website is performing. To really succeed in today’s technological world, you’ll need a website that is mobile optimised. Only a few years ago it wasn’t a necessity to have your website mobile optimised, but now it’s likely that over half of your traffic is viewing your website on a mobile device.
Not only does your website need to be mobile optimised, it also needs to have fast loading times. Pages that load within 2 seconds have an average bounce rate of 9%, compared to pages that take 5 seconds or longer to load which have a bounce rate of 38%. If your site loads in 1.7 seconds, it’s faster than approximately 75% of the web (SEMrush).
- Your website isn’t up to scratch with your competitors
If your website is not at least on par with your competitors, then you should consider change. In most cases you’re not the only business offering the same service or product, so having a website that offers the same content and similar layout is going to make it hard to win your customer’s business over your competitors.
- Your company has recently gone through a rebranding
If your company has recently gone through a rebranding and changed any corporate colours or logos, your website will also need rebranding in order to align with your new brand guidelines. Your brand needs to be cohesive between your website, social media, online marketing, in shop marketing, and print advertising.
Final Takeaways:
Knowing when to redesign your website isn’t as easy as putting a used by date on a pint of milk. There are lots of factors that come into the decision that need to be considered.
Relaunching a new website is a big job, but it also allows you to go back and look at any aspects or content that needs updating and allows you to asses if you’re giving your customers exactly what they want.
And finally, if you’re asking yourself “does my website need redesigning?”… it probably does. After all, why else would you be asking?
Need help with redesigning your website? Get in touch today!
this article
by Listencat
