Your website is one of the most essential employees for your company, oftentimes the first point of contact with potential customers. Websites should be easy to navigate, functional, informative, and leave a good impression on viewers.
Even if your website has served its purpose in the past, websites can become outdated or become less effective in marketing your product over time. There are a multitude of ways to increase your website’s productivity and traffic. So, there are many reasons why a website redesign may need to take place.
When To Redesign Your Website
So, what makes a website outdated? Ideally, a website redesign should take place every 3 years, and there are many indicators that may tell you it is time.
Changes in your business goals or branding are important prompts for updating your website. Keeping your site current on what you are offering, your logo, and other signatures of your brand helps to reach such goals. If your logo, vision, or general design has changed or is inconsistent across site pages, it may be time for a redesign.
Issues with functionality are a big indicator for the need of a redesign. Ease of navigation is important as customers should be able to find the information they are looking for without becoming frustrated. Additionally, optimization for mobile devices is critical in this day and age where fast google searches by smartphone users can yield a great amount of traffic, and difficulty viewing a website on mobile platforms may lead to low conversions and high bounce rates.
Turning site visitors into customers is a primary goal of every website. So, evaluating web traffic and sales is another important part of determining if it is time for a website redesign. If traffic and productivity is low, it may be time for an adjustment in your digital marketing strategy, and your website should be built to embody such strategies.
The Website Redesign Process
To begin a website redesign, you must first evaluate your current site. Important questions to keep in mind are: is your site generating enough leads, and helping achieve your business and marketing goals? Is it functional? Does its appearance match your branding?
Once you answer those questions, you can begin to strategize – setting marketing goals, identifying the target audience, and outlining your vision. Solidifying your digital marketing strategy is crucial for achieving your goals.
Next, you can begin to develop your website. Following website design best practices is important in order to have a site that looks professional, is functional, and attracts new customers. Design elements should be consistent across all pages. This includes your logo, color palette, typography, spacing, and other visuals. You should also keep in mind accessibility, and be intentional with choices about site structure, header menus, and website copy.
Testing your website is an important next step. Functionality, usability, and compatibility should all be a priority when testing your website. Thorough and rigorous testing allows you to identify and fix issues before your website launches.
Last, launch and maintain your website. Once you transfer your site from a local to a live server and people can visit your site, it is important to continuously evaluate its performance. Using website analytics, you can determine what is working and what isn’t, and perform maintenance or make adjustments as necessary to meet yours and your audience’s needs.