As technology and design trends continue to evolve, it’s important for websites to keep up with the times in order to provide a user-friendly and visually appealing experience for visitors. If your website hasn’t been updated in a while, it may be time to consider a refresh or redesign.
Here are five reasons why your website may need a refresh or redesign:
1. Outdated design
If your website’s design is several years old, it may look outdated and unappealing to visitors. A modern and visually appealing design can help your website stand out and make a good impression on potential customers. Poor, dated and unappealing design is proven to reduce brand credibility in the eyes of the user, prompting them to leave your site sooner.
In today’s digital landscape, it’s important for websites to have a clean, minimalistic design that is easy to navigate and use. This means using plenty of white space, choosing legible fonts, and using high-quality images. A website refresh or redesign can help you update your design to better reflect these principles and keep your website looking fresh and modern. Take this for example; here’s a screenshot of Google’s homepage in 2014. While it’s a extremely simple design that is similar to todays, it still looks old and dated.
Source: Wayback machine.
2. Poor user experience
User experience should be at the core of most decisions when creating or rebuilding a website. An outdated website may not provide the best user experience, as it may not be optimized for mobile devices or may have slow loading times. A refresh or redesign can help improve the overall user experience and make it easier for visitors to navigate and find what they’re looking for.
In order to provide the best user experience, your website should be responsive and work well on all devices, including tablets and smartphones. It should also load quickly, as visitors are likely to leave if a website takes too long to load. A website refresh or redesign can help ensure that your website is optimized for mobile devices and has fast loading times.
3. Lack of functionality
As technology advances, it’s important for websites to keep up with the times and offer features that users expect. If your website is lacking in functionality, a refresh or redesign can help you add the features and tools that users need.
For example, if your website doesn’t have a search function, a refresh or redesign can help you add one. Other useful features might include a chat function, a shopping cart, or the ability to make online reservations or appointments. A website refresh or redesign can help you add these and other useful features to your website.
4. Branding and messaging
Your website is often the first point of contact for potential customers, and it’s important that it accurately reflects your brand and messaging. A refresh or redesign can help ensure that your website is consistent with your branding and effectively communicates your message.
Your website should be a reflection of your brand, and this includes everything from the color scheme and logo to the tone of the content. A website refresh or redesign can help you update your branding and messaging to better reflect your brand and effectively communicate your message to visitors.
5. SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
A well-designed and user-friendly website is important for search engine optimization (SEO). A refresh or redesign can help improve your website’s SEO and make it easier for search engines to crawl and index your content.
There are many factors that contribute to a website’s SEO, including the quality and relevance of the content, the use of keywords, and the overall design and structure of the website. A website refresh or redesign can help you optimize your website for SEO and improve your search engine rankings.
In conclusion, a website refresh or redesign can help improve the user experience, add functionality, accurately reflect your brand and messaging, and improve your website’s SEO. If your website is outdated or lacking in any of these areas, it may be time to consider a refresh or redesign. By updating your website, you can provide a better experience for visitors and improve your online presence.
So, how do I know?
There are several tools and methods to identify if your website needs a simple update, a design refresh or a full rebuild.
Firstly, if you think your website looks outdated, then it probably is. It is a good idea to also ask friends and colleagues for their opinion too. It’s easy to overlook issues when it’s your own website. You should also ask yourself: Is the website performing as well as it used to, or as well as I’d like? If the answer is no, then it is likely giving your business’ digital home some love could make a difference.
There are also several free tools that can be utilised to find out if your website is working as it should. Tools such as SEOptimer or SEObility can identify SEO issues, HealthCheck or GTMetrix can check your site performance and Wave is great for searching for accessibility issues.
You’ve rebranded. If you have rebranded, then it is almost certain that your website will fall out of sync with your brand. THis is the ideal time to look at your site so that it best reflects your brand online.
You want to add more features. If you’re seeking to add new features to your website, it is the perfect time to update or refresh your website. It could be as simple as adding a new page or section to your website, which may just warrent a small amount of development. However, if the features are much more encompassing, it is likely that several areas of your site will need to be reconsidered.
You’ve not done it in over three years. Three years is not a particular golden rule, however, it is a good amount of time between a launch to take stock. In three years, a lot can change. Design trends come and go, better and newer technologies emerge and new things become possible. Not only this, but in three years your own buisness goals and objectives can change which is likely reflected in your overall digital strategy.
Alternately, if you would like our team to look at your website and provide you with free advice, feel free to get in touch.
