When & Why You Should Redesign Your Website

Whether it’s your online shop window or your actual store, if you haven’t reviewed your website in the last 12 months, there’s a good chance it’s maybe  out of date, not optimised to meet your business needs and possibly doing you more harm than good. But where do you start in putting that right? Do you just need small tweaks, added functionality or a complete redesign? Check out our invaluable guide to making sure your site is fit for purpose and generating maximum ROI…

The fact is that things move fast in the world of web design – functionality is ever advancing and a feature that may have not been available last year (or just too difficult or costly to implement) may well now be in widespread use (by your competition if you’re really behind the curve…). And that’s before we begin to talk about how it looks. Websites, like any piece of design, can date easily with styles and typefaces going out of fashion faster than you can say ‘click’. If yours is one of those, you’re not making the best possible first impression.

There are many more reasons why it’s a good idea to take an objective look at your website as frequently as possible. Or even better, get someone else to do it for you.

In the meantime, if you answer NO to any of the following questions, it’s highly likely you need to take another look at your website.

1. Does your current site meet your business needs?

Is your site doing everything you need it to? Maybe there’s missing functionality or a feature in that just isn’t being used. Whatever the case, it’s time to take a step back, decide what it is that your business needs your website to do, and review the site with that clarity in mind. It may be that a few small tweaks are all that are needed to make a big difference.

2. Does your site look modern, smart and fresh?

Websites aren’t exempt from design trends. Even if you have your own carefully constructed brand and look, you must stay up to date to be perceived as current. The evolving trends are enabled by technology that makes it ever easier and faster to download large graphics and video, and by designers eager to really get to grips with design online, perfecting the look and feel at every opportunity and aiming to achieve maximum stand out.  

3. Is your site responsive?

This is a biggie and absolutely essential to check if your website has been in place for a long time. Over the last few years, particularly with the rapid rise of mobile browsing, most websites are designed to be responsive as standard. That means that your site adapts to whatever kind of device it’s being viewed on. Enhancing the user’s experience in this way has knock on benefits in terms of pushing you up the search engine rankings, and so getting more leads, sales and customers.     

4. Is your product range or service still the same?

If you’ve evolved, diversified, expanded or grown your business, your website needs to change too. Few businesses stay still – especially in the digital age. Your website should reflect this with a bigger, more confident feel, better functionality, enhanced product listings or simply content that truly reflects how your business really is.

5. Are your competitor’s websites still the same?

If they’ve changed, there’s every reason you need to too. If you’re looking samey or dated, their newly relaunched site makes that even worse. They may be getting customers to the check out in fewer clicks or at the very least, they’re making a bigger and better first impression. And, we all know how much these count.  

6. Is your site built around a content strategy?

Static sites get old quickly. If the content isn’t updated, impactfully and with currency and relevance, you’re not giving people enough reasons to return frequently. A good content marketing strategy can give you the edge in terms of establishing your business as expert, a thought leader, trusted and credible. 

7. Is your site built using the latest technology?

Again, if you haven’t redone your site in a few years, there’s a good chance the technology it’s built on, Flash, for example, is now difficult for search engines to read and for users to access. Updating to the latest technology will help resolve any issues, making your site more efficient and provide the best possible experience for your customers.

8. Does your site comply with GDPR?

And if you don’t know, where have you been?? If you’re now not GDPR compliant, you’re not complying with essential EU regulations and could be exposed to potential problems. Find out more about how you can make sure your site is GDPR compliant or get in touch – we can advise on how GDPR relates to you.

9. Can you update your site as and when you need to?

If you have little control over managing your website, you’re missing out on the ability to be more responsive to market changes, to deploy marketing strategies faster and to update content more cost-effectively (by doing it yourself or delegating to a member of your team).  You’ll also be able to test out different landing page strategies and evaluate what works and what doesn’t. 

10. Do you trust your site security?

Cyber security continues to be a hot topic. Hackers are hugely sophisticated and aren’t just interested in going after big business, leaving SMEs and entrepreneurs equally susceptible to an attack at any time. If your information is compromised, the effects can reverberate beyond your operational ability to do business and impact your reputation. This really is an area you can’t afford to neglect.

Is your site secure? From early July Google Chrome 68 will begin displaying a warning & marking all HTTP sites as “not secure” to site visitors. This makes it more important than ever to have an SSL Certificate in place. If your not sure ask us – we would be happy to help with your SSL Query.

So, in short, if you have answered NO to one or more of these questions, you’ve already got one or more very good reasons to redesign your website. The only question that remains is when? And you know what they say: no time like the present.

Get in touch today, call us on 028 90 731190 or email incoming@thewebbureau.com. We’d be happy to review your site and make recommendations, efficiently and effectively.