When to Redesign your Website

How has your business evolved over the last few years? Have you added ecommerce to your operations? Shifted product or service offerings to attract a new customer base? Added new website features such as videos, chat lines, customer feedback, or signup pages? These business improvements may have stretched the limits of your website. It probably doesn’t reflect current design practices, may load pages slowly or is too wordy for mobile applications.  Its content may not be optimized, making it difficult to be found in a Google search. It may not protect customers from current security threats.

Websites become dated after a few years. Studies show that anywhere from 12 to 30 months is the average lifespan for a viable website, depending on the industry.  Periodic updates may help but changes in customer preferences and technologies usually mean a redesign is needed before the 3-year mark.

Website Redesign Benefits

Your website should attract visitors and convert them into customers. It must offer visitors the best experience possible to achieve that goal. A new website does that by giving them:

• A modern design, which may include an updated logo, streamlined graphics, videos, or call to action buttons.
• A new look to build your brand, especially if you’ve added new capabilities such as ecommerce.
• A way to learn about changes to your business. If you’ve added a brick-and-mortar storefront (or gone all on-line), added new product lines, new service capabilities or expanded your service area.
• A user-friendly mobile site where customers can place orders or engage in conversation with you.
• A site that aligns with your social media “look”.

A new website offers much more than new design features, including:

• Faster page load times. Most visitors will leave a site if a page load takes more than 3 seconds. 82% of consumers say slow page speeds impact their purchasing decisions. (Unbounce)
• A secure experience. Let visitors know what security measures you’ve taken to ensure their privacy.
• Search engine optimization to make your site visible to more people.
• Improved business operations. A new website shows prospective employees that your business is poised for a growing future. Incorporating security features protects business data and access to customer information from attacks.

How to prepare for a redesign meeting with your designer

Look at competitor websites to assess their strengths and weaknesses. Listen to your customer feedback (or solicit it!) regarding your website and social media posts.

• What caught their attention?
• Do customers easily understand your products and see their value?
• Is it easy to flow from one page to another and find what they’re looking for?
• Does your site clearly show your return policies, guarantees, customer support policies?
• Has your online presence increased business over the last few years? Google Analytics can give you usage data for each website page.
• Does your site highlight your strengths?
• Is it personable: that is, can a visitor get to know you and your qualifications so they feel comfortable doing business with you?
• Is the site have current security software?

Be prepared to share answers to these questions when you meet with your designer. They will advise you about content creation and design, so your website presents your business in the best possible light, while optimizing it for the greatest visibility.

Plan for changes to your business after the redesign

Changes to your website may mean new or shifting responsibilities for your employees. For example, if you solicit customer feedback, it’s important that you read and respond to customer comments quickly. You may need to add new resources for website customer communications. If you’re new to Google Analytics, you’ll find the data will give you valuable information about how your website is used, but only if you study it regularly. Add new measurement routines to track the effectiveness of all your change so you will be able to make additional changes as time goes on.

A new website can give your business the boost it needs to stay competitive in an increasingly competitive online world. Careful planning to create a beautiful website that reflects your unique value proposition will help customers get to know you. Keep the website aligned with your business plan and marketing strategy and it will work hard for you. To quote Hubspot, “To many visitors, the website you publish is just as important as the products you sell.”

Wheaton Website Services helps small businesses design and maintain their websites. Contact us to learn how we can help your business.

We design and update websites that run flawlessly.