Is it time to redesign your website?

You may have developed an amazing website — a year or two ago (or was it 10!).

Unfortunately, in this quickly evolving digital world, an efficient and maintained website is crucial for success.

Here are 5 things you should consider that will help determine whether your website is getting too dusty and might be due for a scrub up.

1. The usability of your site

Our world revolves around digital technology including computers, phones, and iPads. As a result, one of the most important usability functions your site requires is the ability to adjust and work properly across all these devices. So, if your site has a responsive design, customers can reach you with ease no matter where they are.

Of course, there are other usability features that are just as important on your site, such as navigation and content distribution (don’t overwhelm customers with paragraphs of dribble). Rethink your target audience and what they might want from your site today; if they want to find information, can they quickly and easily find it through navigation tabs and/or content?

It’s not just about your visitors either. If your staff find it difficult to upload content in the CMS (content management system) or find that the layout and performance of your site simply don’t adapt to their needs then this could be another reason to upgrade.

2. What your competitors are doing

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. There are many tools you can use to analyse how a competitor site ranks against yours such as SEMrush, Buzz Sumo, Ahrefs, and more. Here, you can find out exactly how well a competitor’s site is ranking, how often it’s being shared in social media, and even what the most popular pages are. Have a good dig into your competitors, look at their layout, design, and usability. If they are achieving the results you desire, then it might be time to redesign and re-establish your site (it’s okay to be inspired by competitors — keep an eye on their website development).

3. The consistency of your branding voice

A brand voice is important in setting up your company, from your company vision and marketing projects to website design and public reputation — and don’t forget the business cards. Without a consistent brand voice, your company will look unorganised, unprofessional, and consumers will be left confused, lacking trust. Read your last few campaigns and go over the web copy of your site — is it the same person selling your product or service? If not then it’s definitely time to redesign your website and create a strong, regular, and coherent voice; keep in mind, it could be informal, formal, relatable, or educational etc.

4. Your products and services

It’s frustrating as a consumer to desire a product or service only to discover it’s sold out or not available in your area. Therefore, a huge reason to redesign your site would be due to a change in what you’re selling. If you’ve dropped lots of new products (or removed them), if you’ve expanded your services (or made them more specialised), make this the feature of your website — let people know. Or if you feel your website might be misleading or contain non-useful information about a product or service, then again, you’re most likely due for a redesign or at the very least an information update. Keep in mind that these web design updates should be frequent, especially if your products or services change regularly (including sales).

5. The load time of your site

70% of mobile sites take roughly 7 seconds to load — you don’t want to be in this category. Keep customers happy with a load time of around 2-3 seconds. Importantly, a fast loading page won’t only make customers happy, but may also increase your Google rankings. There are many tools to test your site speed including Google’s Test My Site. If you find your site is too slow, then, you guessed it, you’re going to be in need of a new website design.

If you want professional assistance in redesigning your website to achieve maximum results (and who wouldn’t?), look no further than Technology Matters.

Contact us right here.