Why is it important to redesign a website
If you already have an existing website but it simply isn’t doing your business justice, it might be a good reason why you should redesign your website and website redesign may just be the way to go. A website redesign (if done well) will allow you to keep everything that’s working from your original website, and replace everything that isn’t with brand-new code, content, layouts, and graphics, to drive your business success metrics up.
Undergoing a website redesign can be a daunting and lengthy process, but defining your reasons for doing one in the first place will help you set your goals and make the process twice as easy. Having a clear, defined direction to head towards will streamline your website redesign and greatly increase the chance of it having a successful impact on your business.
So, What is a Website Redesign?
A website redesign is a (typically large-scale) makeover of a website with the goal of improving its functionality, aesthetics, and general user experience. To ensure your goals are aligned with this short guide, it’s important to differentiate between a simpler website refresh and a website redesign itself.
Website Refresh
A website refresh is typically more cosmetic than structural. The main functionality of the website will not undergo many (if any) changes, except for minor layout tweaks that may improve the user experience. A refresh gives the website a new coat of paint and can be used when rebranding is a company’s only goal, for example. During a refresh, visual elements such as colour palette, typography, and graphics may be updated, but there won’t be much else to improve beneath the surface of what visitors can see.
Website Redesign
A website redesign typically involves not just the surface look of the website, but also the code underneath. Along with updates to the visual aesthetic of the site can come changes to the website’s structure, speed, and website security, as well as integral elements such as the content itself too. A website redesign will take more time, effort, and experience to implement, but it can drastically improve your website’s performance.
Via AKSA Group
Why You Should Redesign Your Website
The biggest question to answer before undertaking any major changes to your website is why you want to revamp it in the first place. When you identify the key problems that your website is facing and discover what elements could benefit the most from an update, you can then set attainable goals to achieve through your website redesign project, along with KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that will give your project some direction, as well as some concrete ways of measuring its success.
If you don’t know where to start when it comes to identifying the problem areas of your website, Idea Marketing offers a free website audit which will allow a trained website developer to analyze your website for you, completely free of charge, but in the meantime, here are 8 of the most relevant reasons your company should consider a redesign.
1. Your Users are Struggling
User experience should always be a number one priority when it comes to website design. As backwards as it may seem, your website should only be 10% about you and 90% about your users because your website exists purely to serve them. If it isn’t doing that to its full potential, it is hurting both their experience with your company, and ultimately your business. Issues such as poor navigation and sparse content can drive visitors (who would have otherwise gladly made conversions) away from your website and ultimately towards your competitors whose websites are more user-friendly.
2. Your Website is Slow
Internet users are becoming less and less patient and their expectations for how websites should be performing are growing every day. If your website is slow to load or filled with content that lags, your bounce rate will climb as your visitors go elsewhere to find a faster, more reliable place to do business. If you can’t get your users to stick around long enough to see what you have to offer, you most definitely will not be able to convince them to stay and make conversions.
3. Your Website is Not Responsive
Over half of all web traffic now comes from mobile devices so it is absolutely essential that your website performs well no matter which device or platform it is being viewed on. Responsive web design is the practice of optimizing your website’s code so that the layout and other elements respond to the dimensions of the device instead of applying a “one size fits all” approach as it used to be when everyone was a desktop browser. Websites that are not responsive instantly alienate a large portion of their customer base, drastically reduce web traffic, highly increase bounce rates, and should definitely undergo a redesign.
4. Your Website is Not Search Engine Optimized
The practice of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) seeks to make your website as search engine friendly as possible so that visitors find it easier to search for and access your website. A website redesign is the perfect opportunity to introduce SEO practices to your website if they haven’t been utilized before, as the process encapsulates every aspect of web development from your title tag codes and URLs to your written content itself. If your website is easier for search engines to crawl, it will rank higher on search pages and gain more visitors in the process.
5. Your Website is Not Easy to Edit
While a website redesign is typically a once in a while, large scale operation, changes will still need to be made to your website on a more consistent basis to account for the smaller updates that occur during the day to day happenings of your business. Whether that’s adding product pages as new inventory comes in or updating your blog, if your website has been built on outdated software, regularly editing your website is going to be a difficult task. A website redesign is the perfect opportunity to reconsider the platform that is housing all of your code. CMS’ (Content Management Systems) are usually a good choice when it comes to rebuilding your website, as they typically allow for much more control of your content.
6. Your Website is Not Secure
Cyber security is a big modern-day concern, and if your current website is vulnerable to malware and hacking attempts, it could have major implications for your business. Updating the security systems you have in place to protect your website is a very wise reason to implement a redesign, and is something to keep a constant watch on during the maintenance of your website.
7. Your Branding is Outdated
Your brand design sends some of the most important messages to your customer base before they have even gotten the chance to see what you do, and is one of the most important visual storytelling elements in your business’ arsenal. A website redesign gives you the opportunity to present a fresh image of your business to your customer base. Your brand design should reflect where you’re at as a company as well as where you plan to be – sleek, cohesive graphics and fonts, as well as an updated logo can signal to your customers that you are staking your claim in your industry and that you have a clear path forward. A new, aesthetically pleasing look to your website will enhance your user experience instantly if paired with the right layouts and navigation.
8. Your Business Goals Have Changed
Your website is the digital face of your business, and as your business grows and evolves, your website should do the same with it. If your website no longer represents your company, it’s time for a redesign. Some points to consider are that your products or services may have expanded since your last website update, and are not yet accessible or advertised on your site. Your customer base may also have changed so you need to ensure your website is targeting the right people. Your company may even have undergone some internal changes such as new management, a new mission statement, or a new direction in general. Take stock of your business’ story so far and its goals for the future, and make sure your website is an accurate reflection of this journey.
Via EuroArts.ca
To Conclude
As you can probably tell by now, there will almost never be only one reason to consider why you should redesign your website – many reasons in the above list even overlap with each other in lots of ways – but if you do it right, it will almost certainly be worth it.
If you’re ready to take the plunge, the web design experts at Idea Marketing will take care of step 1 by auditing your website for FREE (no strings attached!) to let you know exactly where your website is letting you down. In the meantime, check out our guide on how to do a great redesign so that you’re as prepared as possible to take your website to the next level.
