Is it time to redesign your website?
As the end of 2020 draws nearer, we as a population have never been more immersed in the world of technology and online business. More and more people are turning to the web for products and services they would, under normal circumstances, explore in the real world.
This provides businesses with the unique opportunity to reach an audience and customer base far further than their physical stores could service. If you own such a business, the first step in tapping into this brand new customer base is your website.
Your website is the first thing people see when they look for your brand. While your website should contain everything a prospective customer needs to know about your business, it needs to do a little more than that. From the moment they set their eyes on your homepage to the moment they leave, your website should be engaging, beautiful, and most of all, extremely functional.
Say you already have a website, though. It’s been working fine for years, has decent traffic, and has some good, still relevant content penned down a while ago. How do you know if your website needs a redesign?
Ask yourself these questions —
Is your website responsive?
The number of users accessing the internet from mobile devices is higher than ever before. In case one of these users happens to come across your website, what will they see?
Will they see a smaller, cellphone screen-sized version of your desktop website or a website designed specifically for their smaller screen?
If it’s the former, it becomes quite a hassle for users to navigate the website. They might even have to constantly zoom in and out to read or access certain information. A solution to this problem would be to design your website with a responsive layout in mind.
A responsive website layout is crucial for the retention of the traffic coming to you from devices like mobiles and tablets. It ensures that your website automatically adapts to whatever screen size it is being viewed on, and optimizes itself for that size.
Are you rebranding your business?
When a business decides to rebrand, it usually involves a change in marketing materials like packaging or the company logo, but it could also involve larger changes like the company name.
Redesigning your website to go along with the business rebrand has a lot of advantages. Especially when it comes to e-commerce websites, the redesign will instantly show your customers the new business direction the very moment they set their eyes on your new website.
Is your content up-to-date?
Search engines are constantly modifying their ranking strategies, sometimes making tiny changes every single day. The content on your website is a large factor in where search engine robots rank it on the results page.
Modern websites use methods like video and pictures to get their content across instead of the traditional text. Redesigning your website will allow you to integrate such content organically and without it looking out of place. It will also provide a great opportunity to make your website SEO-friendly and bring in more traffic.
If your content hasn’t been updated in a while, you should think about redesigning your website to go hand-in-hand with the new content strategy you choose.
What is your visitor to lead ratio?
If your website is already SEO/SEM optimised, it should be bringing in a good amount of visitors. However, how many of these visitors are actually staying on your website long enough to turn into leads?
There are some great tools to help you figure out this ratio. Once you have it, you can analyse if that number is good enough for you.
One of the first things a visitor sees about your business is the website. Some websites may look inauthentic, some might be difficult to navigate, some may take a long time to load. All these things are major reasons why people leave the website to go look for alternatives.
Redesigning your website gives you the chance to make the tweaks necessary for retaining your visitors and converting them into leads.
How long ago was your last redesign?
According to studies, the average lifespan of a website is about two and a half years. After this, the website and its features may become unfashionable or obsolete.
Keeping up with the times is key in the webspace, especially if competitor websites have adapted to change. Since the last redesign, there is a high possibility that there has been some development in website making, eg. the recent discontinuation of the Flash Player in Google Chrome after a majority of websites started using HTML5.
The influx of micro-experiences into websites is another example of the changing times. Redesigning your website will ensure that it remains modern and that it provides your audience with a positive experience.
Redesigning a website is no easy feat, and requires time, effort, and money. It’s helpful to think of it as an investment because, in the “new normal,” where the power of a business’ online presence simply can not be underestimated, your website can be crucial to your success.
If your answers to these questions have got you thinking, it’s probably time for a redesign.
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Adalin Labs is a team dedicated to helping our clients create a high-impact digital presence. If you’re a business looking to redesign your website, drop us a message here.
