Rebuild or Refresh: How Often Should You Redesign Your Website?
Many of our customers come to us with websites that are already established. Often, they come to us with an established website and are asking for things like conversion or search engine optimization, ongoing management, new sections, or even updated functionality. Sometimes we can accommodate them with their existing websites. Sometimes, that’s not so simple.
Your website should evolve with your company as you grow and expand, and knowing when to redesign your website is vital to maintaining your online presence. You will inevitably require a website makeover if you want to keep your site engaging, relevant, and up-to-date.
Often, we find our customers strike the best balance between keeping their brand fresh and completely saturating their market with a new campaign by redesigning their websites around every 5 years or so. But the problem is, I don’t have any hard data to back that up for every project – it’s just a rule of thumb and cannot be applied to every company or organization, let alone applied across the board for every industry.
Instead of relying on some arbitrary timetable, we recommend you consider these universal factors when the topic of a website redesign comes up.
Your Website Has a Low Conversion Rate
What’s a website conversion rate? Conversion rate refers to the frequency with which someone who visits your website completes a desired task that you are tracking. You can’t really track your conversations without some careful setup work. If it’s implemented for you, you probably have a dashboard or receive monthly conversion reports through something like Google Analytics.
Your website is not a passive tool. It's a visual representation of your company, its goals, and your brand. It should be more than a digital business card – it should be set up to drive conversions. If your conversion rate is low, it's time to consider a redesign. Many factors can affect conversion rates, including content quality, design quality, ease of navigation, and, most importantly, the user experience.
Outdated Look and Feel
Your website is a product of its time. The look and feel of your website can have a significant effect on how users perceive your business. You might find that elements of your website are causing slower load times when users come across your website. This might lead them to "bounce" off your website and leave before even taking the time to look at your key pages.
You might also find that the design on your website is outdated, making use of design trends and styles that are way past their prime. Even if your website has fast load times and is easy to navigate, users could still bounce if your website doesn’t have a modern look.
Take a look at your competitors, both large and small businesses, and see what design features they’re employing. If your website feels outdated by comparison, it could be time for a redesign!
Hard to Navigate
Your website needs to look good, but it needs to do more than that. It doesn’t matter what conversions you are tracking if your visitors can’t find what they're looking for. If they can't easily navigate the site, they'll have no choice but to leave. Although it sounds obvious, most people overlook this aspect because they don't know where to start.
There are a lot of ways to determine if your website suffers from user interface problems. You could employ an analytics tool and analyze your user flow, or simply ask people to finish tasks using your website and monitor them.
If you determine your website’s current structure is confusing, and it isn’t easy to find your key pages, it’s time to refresh.
Not Mobile Friendly
When you think of websites, you may think of desktop computers. But the fact is, over 60% of global web traffic is from mobile phones. If it’s difficult to use your website on a mobile device, then rectifying this can benefit you massively.
If your site isn't mobile-friendly, you’re missing out on potential customers. Mobile usability is one of the many important factors in optimizing your website for Google searches. So, you can drive more traffic to your site if it’s optimized for mobile users.
If your website wasn’t designed with mobile users in mind, it’s unlikely that you will see much success trying to make it mobile-friendly after the fact. Consider a mobile-first philosophy when you develop your new site.
Doesn't Reflect Branding Changes
Your website is the first thing people see when they want to learn about your business. It should reflect the current state of your business to remain relevant. If you’ve recently refreshed your branding, it’s vital that you update your website so that there is parity between your online and physical presence.
Get the Best Professionals to Redesign Your Website Today
When was the last you updated your website? Regular site updates protect you against online phishing and ensure the site is mobile-friendly and easy to navigate. As a top marketing agency in Pittsburgh, our experts will bring life to your site using the best practices. Get in touch with us today to get started.