10 Reasons Why You Need A Website Redesign Process
It is pretty common for businesses to update their site regularly. Whether it is making updates on their product offerings, switching a couple of photos and graphics, or redesigning a logo. However, there are times when a website redesign process is needed. Unlike making website updates that require only a couple of changes, a site redesign is all about changing the following: ● ● ● ●
The way information is structured and then presented on your website. The overall look of multiple pages on a website. The software runs on your site. How web visitors are using your site.
The web redesign process can be a burden for a lot of small business owners. It can even be time-consuming therefore hiring a Web Application Development Company is the safest option. Also, if you have an online store with advanced features, it can be a bit challenging to redo your site, especially if technical stuff is not your strong suit.
So, when do you know that it is time for a complete website redesign process or if it is just another unscrupulous web designer who is pushing you to pay for their services? In this post, we have created a checklist that will give you an idea of the signs that you need to watch out for before you go for a complete web redesign process.
Why You Should Redesign Your Site It’s worth noting that your site shouldn’t have all the criteria below before you consider a complete site redesign. Nonetheless, the number of items you get to tick off from this list can give you an idea of the urgency of your web redesign needs. Checking an item or two from the list is considered as concerning while checking numerous items means that a complete site redesign is a must. Here are the signs that will tell you whether your site should be redesigned or not:
1. Your Website is Not Meeting Your Expectations Perhaps, this is the most straightforward reason why you need to think about making site changes immediately. Let’s say that you have a great looking website that runs fine, but you’re not getting results. If you’re not achieving your target sales, or whatever your conversion goals are, then your site isn’t working well. The most important thing that you should do is analyze what’s wrong with your site and why it’s not working well with visitors. Luckily, there are a handful of top free website builders that have built-in analytics or lets you connect with Google or Bing Analytics. From there, you can check your conversion rates and visitor to lead rates. Try to monitor the behaviors of your customers as well, and know the points where they stop and leave. Do you have a landing page that’s enticing enough for visitors to proceed on other pages on your site? Are your web pages cohesive enough, and are they properly linked to one another? Is your site similar to your brand identity? Is your call to action button properly placed on your web page? Ask yourself these questions, and over time, you’ll be able to discover what’s wrong with your site.
2. It Does Not Accurately Reflect Your Brand To be taken seriously by others and to be considered as a credible business in your industry, you should portray a strong image that accurately represents your brand, as well as captures its essence. Otherwise, your visitors will just ignore your website. So, while you’re working on your website redesign, you should also consider creating a solid brand image. This will have the ability to make you stand out even from bigger competitors, making it a much more even playing field. Your business needs to have an established online presence that aligns with your brand. More so with your offline marketing efforts. Your site will have the capacity to elevate your brand to a completely different level, but only if you promote it sparingly and guide people towards it.
3. Your Website is Not Mobile Responsive
Source: Unsplash
The number of people who access the internet through their mobile devices is growing. And this trend will continue to do so in the future. Thus, it’s important that your website is mobile responsive. After all, mobile-friendliness has become so vital that even Google recommends it. Ideally, you should have a responsive site and could accommodate all kinds of users, no matter what platform they’re visiting your site on. Luckily, there are free website builders that offer mobile-friendly web design templates. If your site isn’t mobile responsive, then chances are, it won’t work with tablets and other mobile devices. This means that you’ll be missing out on a lot of opportunities to attract and convert the growing number of mobile internet users.
4. Your Website is Not Optimized for Speed If your site doesn’t load within two seconds, then you are likely driving your site visitors away. According to a survey, 49 percent of consumers expect a site to load within two seconds or less. So if your site takes longer than that to load, you can’t expect your prospects to wait around for it. Chances are, you’ll also be missing out on a lot of potential leads and sales. Good thing you can manually test your site by opening and browsing it on desktop and other mobile devices. It should load quickly in all types of devices. You can also check your website’s page load speed on Google’s PageSpeed Insights, as this can give you a list of areas on your website that you can improve on.
5. Your Competitors Have Redesigned Their Websites Unless you’re an experienced web designer, it can be hard to tell whether your site is outdated or not.One way to find out is to check for your competitors’ site, as well as other similar websites in the industry. Check if they’ve recently made significant changes to their designs. See to it that your current web design process is not wildly different from theirs. Also, consider the colors, text size, and graphics they’re using. If they’ve done a redesign recently and their
graphics are quite different than yours, then it’s best to get feedback from a professional web designer. Remember that outdated designs aren’t just about appearance. It also provides subtle signals to your audience. Having a fresh design lets your site visitors know that you’re keeping up with the times, and your business is thriving. So, if you have a site design that looked like it was created five years ago, a lot of design trends have probably changed, making your site look outdated.
6. Visitors Quickly Leave the Website Some sites usually work best when site visitors go to multiple pages or stay for a long time. For instance, if you have a blog, people usually take the time to read your posts. If you have an e-commerce site, people would love to browse through your products, pick several items that they want to buy, then follow through with a purchase. If these apply to your site, then users would be sticking around longer. That said, here are some metrics that allow you to determine if users leave your site too quickly: ● Bounce rate: A bounce rate is the number of people who leave your website immediately without taking any action, compared to your total number of site visitors on a given time frame. ● Session or Pages: This refers to the average number of pages a user views per session. The higher the number, the more pages an average user will view when checking your site. ● Behavior Flow: This allows you to gain a better perspective of how thoroughly users go through your site, especially if the following metrics above aren’t relevant to your needs.
7. You Have Concerns Over Website Security One of the greatest concerns of online businesses is its security. After all, businesses of any size are susceptible to hacking and viruses if they have an online presence. So, if you have a site that’s built a year ago and you haven’t updated it ever since, then you’re more prone to these threats.
8. Your Website is Outdated
Source: Unsplash Design trends change every few years or so. The latest design trends now call for a flat design using simple, two-dimensional patterns with a modern, clean look. This kind of website design can cater to both mobile and desktop interfaces. Moreover, a simple and more minimalist approach to design is now embraced by big brands like Apple, Microsoft, and Starbucks. Since mobile users are also outpacing desktop usage, complicated designs with seemingly larger images make it harder for mobile visitors to browse your site. Flat designs, on the other hand, make it a lot easier.
9. Your Website is Not Search Engine Optimized Perhaps your site is built using a template, or you have dynamic URLs. A website redesign process can significantly enhance your coding, making your site more search engine-friendly. This is possible by using custom page URLs, Page Titles, and Alt Tags. Fortunately, there are advanced CMS (Content Management System) and free website builders that give you more flexibility, making it easier to optimize your site.
10. Third-Party Tools Need Updating Many sites have third-party tools but forgot to update them. If they’re not regularly updated, users will find it difficult to use them, forcing them to eventually leave. In most cases, this will cause your conversions to go down the drain. It’s best to determine what tools are working and responding well. If there are newer versions, then take the time to update them. You can also just remove the tool if there are no available updates, or it has become ineffective over time.
Conclusion Great marketing means that you have to constantly make changes in your site to boost sales, maximize your ROI, as well as reduce your cost per acquisition.
Original Source: Technians