Does Your Website Need A ReDesign?
Redesigning a website is much more than replacing old out-dated graphics with new graphics. The redesign process also involves changing the structure of the site to enhance performance. It doesn’t matter if your website is gorgeous, highly functional, and pixel perfect in every way. If you aren’t getting the overall results you want, it’s doing more harm than good and simply taking up space on the internet.
A website is a tool… it should have a purpose, goals, objectives and incorporate leverage for your business. If your site isn’t doing anything but taking up space, it may be time for a redesign.
Here are a few of the questions you should be asking to help you decide if you are in need of a redesign. Do any of these apply to your website? If so, it is a sure sign you are in need of a redesign.
Is the design outdated?
Is your website difficult to navigate?
Does your website load slowly?
Are parts of your website not functioning properly?
Does your website accurately reflect your brand?
Is your website aligned with your current marketing strategy?
Does your call to action promote visitors to take action?
Does the Home page or the landing pages of your website inspire visitors to want to read more, and to learn more? Do they inspire visitors to want to dig deeper and explore? Or are they just pages that are aesthetically pleasing and have very little value or promote them to purchase, sign-up, or contact you?
Does your site have way too much text in it? Are the fonts used dated or hard to read? Does it convey the message of who you are & what you do in the first 3-5 seconds of landing on your website page?
Does your website have a look and feel that matches your company’s particular voice and clearly conveys your message to your target audience?
Is the first impression (visual hierarchy) of your website sending the right message and creating the right perception?
Does your website offer value to your visitors? How does your website compare to the competition?
Is your website responsive (mobile friendly)?
Are there opportunities for visitors to convert into leads?
Is it easy for you to make updates to your website?
Is visitor feedback of your website positive or negative?
Is your website visible to search engines? Do you show up in local searches? Do you have low search engine rankings?
Do you have website analytics? What are your website's analytics? Have they dropped off? Do visitors navigate away quickly?
Are you launching a new product or service and need to have your site updated?
Has it been over 2 years since you made a complete update/overhaul of your website? Do you have outdated technology?
What is the copyright year posted in the footer of your website? Is it signaling to your customers that yhou haven't been active or you haven't updated your website in lately?
Is there anything you wish your website could do to benefit your business?
Does the site need redesigning?
The basic questions listed here help to determine the status of your website. A culmination of these questions you answered "yes" to offers the realization it’s time for a redesign.
Keep in mind a site redesign should have a purpose and needs to be structured accordingly.
A well-structured site could easily appear tired or outdated, but may contain a great visual hierarchy in the way it presents its information. In this case, the need for a design update to refresh the site may be all that is needed to capture your audience and create the perception and message you want to convey, along with the functions you want to transpire.
When done right, Design = Communication.
Visual hierarchy is one of the most important principles behind effective web design.
Redesign your website to be useful
Before making the decision to redesign your website, ensure that you completely understand all of the various strengths and weaknesses that are in your current design. You need to determine what “is” working with your website and what “isn’t” working. What do you love? What do you hate? Take a look at your site and create a list of all the things you love about it. In a redesign, the best part is you don’t have to change everything. If you love it, keep it. If its not broken there is no need to fix it, although, placement may need to be restructured to keep with the sites flow of visual hierarchy. Make note of what you truly hate or that isn’t working so you can discuss concerns and ideas with your designer on how to eliminate or redesign those parts of the site, to better enhance performance.
If you aren’t sure what’s working and what’s not working on your website, take the time to study competitor websites to see how you stack up, this will also help to gain insight on different ideas and alternatives you can incorporate or apply to your website redesign. Taking the time to see what works, what you like and why will help you to determine if your website is in need of a redesign and what you would like to accomplish.
Strategy First, Planning Second
If you find that you need to redesign your website, in some cases, you could use the original website as a starting point for your new design; and at the very least holding on to your old website, you’ll be able to determine exactly what’s wrong with it so that your new website doesn’t suffer the same issues.
Before taking the steps to redesign your website, you need to seriously consider the purpose, goals, objectives and leverage you want your website to perform which will become the foundation to your websites redesign.
A partial list of examples to consider for a redesign:
You aren’t getting the results you want
You haven’t updated in ages
Products or services have changed
Create a more user friendly site
Add new functionality
Branding / building your brand
Rebranding
To keep it fresh
Awareness
Improve perception
Achieve Marketing goals
Generate or increase leads
Advertising
Increase Sales
Increase page views
Reduce bounce rates
Build email subscribers
Make your information more accessible
Educate potential customers
Allow customers to learn more about products and/or services
Promote key benefits
Become more visually aligned with your brand
Improve navigation to increase page visits
Improve SEO to increase search rankings
Improve customer satisfaction
Answer frequently asked questions
Optimize / Automate workflow
Maximize ROI
Retention
Engage target audience by offering value
Become an authoritative resource
Incorporate calls to action (CTA)
Incorporate social media
A poorly designed or poorly functioning website can hurt your business. When properly designed, a website is a customized tool created with a purpose to meet specific goals, objectives and leverage responsibilities and operations. While some goals and objectives are typical for all websites, success hinges on knowing what’s working, what’s not and knowing what you want to achieve when redesigning your website.