Time to Redesign Your Website

It's a simple fact, your potential customers are judging your brand, based on their first impression of your website. If you aren't absolutely proud of your own website, it is time to get into redesigning it, or polishing it up, so it really does work as your best marketing tool, which is what it really should be.

We have compiled ten great signs that it is time to redesign your website. They are;

• Hard to use on mobile
• Low search engine ranking
• Difficult to update
• Low or no conversion
• Changes in brand direction or positioning
• Slow to load
• The ‘outdated’ look
• High bounce rate
• Broken links
• Competitor's website is better

Now let’s tackle each one, and explain it in more detail.

Hard to use on mobile

A responsive website is to provide an optimal viewing and interaction experience, which includes easy reading and navigation across a wide range of devices.

You know it is time to redesign your website when you are not able to view your site via mobile devices. Nowadays, plenty of searches are performed on portable devices; both mobile and tablets. The user experience on your website can make or break your business and you do not want to lose to the competition just because you were slow to adapt to mobile browsing trends.

Low search engine ranking

Search engine ranking refers to the position a particular website appears after it has been searched for. A website that has a high ranking search engine is when it appears at or near the top of the list of results.

So if your search engine rankings are low, it means it is time to redesign your website. If the content on your website was not written with current SEO (search engine optimisation) trends, it may be time for an update.

Difficult to update

Content management systems have come a long way over the years, so if you are trapped in some difficult to use CMS from years ago, then that’s a great reason to consider a redesign your website to an easier way to update your site.

Ideally, you should have someone changing content no less frequently than monthly. In an ideal world, it would be weekly. The big barrier for many businesses is that they have a hard to use website editing method. We encourage people to investigate both Craft CMS and WordPress, both of which are great systems.

Low or no conversion

A website conversion means getting your visitors to do what you want them to do on your website. Whether it is to buy your product, sign up for your newsletter, call your phone or complete your contact form.

It is likely the time to redesign your website with both your target audience and your goals in mind if you are not seeing any conversions. This could be that your conversion rate optimisation needs to evolve with the times, and with your business requirements. 

If you ensure that your target audience type and your goals are in the front of your mind before you start redesigning your website, you will definitely see an increase in traffic and leads.

Changes in brand direction or positioning

Brand positioning refers to targeting your consumers, giving them a reason to buy your brand in preference to others.

It is time to redesign your website when your company’s vision or branding has changed. Bear in mind that your website is one of your most important assets for your business. If the look and feel of the website does not match up with your current target audience and message, it is time for an update!

Slow to load

Just like humans, search engines like Google absolutely despise slow loading websites. Call us impatient, but if your website takes too long to load, people click away before even taking a look.

When you redesign your website, make sure you watch your website speed, and ensure that your new site loads faster than your old one.

The ‘outdated’ look

Just like fashion trends, web design trends are changing rapidly as well. So if you find that your own employees have become embarrassed of your website (which we have seen happen, time and time again), then maybe it is actually tired and outdated, and needs a good fresh set of eyes. 

Monitor sizes have exploded over the last decade, so if you find that your website is 'skinny' on the screen, or is very cluttered and messy, then it is likely that your website is looking very outdated, and this is giving your visitors a bad image of your brand or business.

That old saying “First impressions count” really is true; if your site is aged, then it is definitely time for a redesign.

High bounce rate

A high bounce rate is a great indicator that there’s something on those pages, either visually oor in the text content, that is not appealing to your website visitors. 

Before you redesign your website, take a close look through your key metrics in Google Analytics and see what pages are causing the highest bounce rates, and try to determine why.

Broken links

It can get quite frustrating when you navigate to a certain page on a website and you get an error message. Many business owners believe that their loyal customers will put up with poorly designed and maintained websites. This is often not the case. Customers will simply find a better updated site with which to do business.  

While you may be able to get away with a few broken links or missing images by fixing them, but if it happened too often or there are just too many to fix, perhaps it is about time to redesign your website.

Competitor's website is better

It is definitely time to redesign your website when you take a look at your competitor's website and it is better than yours.

There are many industries when they never have to meet up with their customers in person. Your website is what tells them what you are about. Your website should reflect the nature of your business. If it does not, you will run the risk of losing out to your competitors.

Summary

Remember that a well-designed website is one of the most effective online marketing tools available.

Those 10 signs that it is time to redesign your website, again, are;

• Hard to use on mobile
• Low search engine ranking
• Difficult to update
• Low or no conversion
• Changes in brand direction or positioning
• Slow to load
• The ‘outdated’ look
• High bounce rate
• Broken links
• Competitor's website is better

A website redesign can be a daunting task, but by partnering with a good web design agency you can make the process a lot easier and even exciting! If you need advice or help, we’re only an email or call away.