It may sound silly, but the face of your company probably isn’t a face (or even human, for that matter) – it’s your website. Think about it: the last time you had a question about a company or one of their products, did you pick up the telephone book and call their store, or did you simply type their name into Google to find it on their website?
This is why you want to put your best digital foot forward with your best salesman – your website. How do you know if your website is no longer serving your business as well as it should? Could it potentially be time for a redesign? In this article, we’ve developed 8 key considerations to help you determine if your organization’s website is no longer working for your business and is in need of a redesign or overhaul.
1. Your Site Isn’t Ranking As Well As It Used To
The first indicator your site may benefit from a redesign is it is no longer statistically performing like it used to. Proper Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of a site is vital to good performance. Good SEO makes your site rank higher in Google searches, allowing potential visitors and customers to find your site faster and more frequently. Just like all other technology, the key factors that search engines evaluate for SEO are continually evolving and progressing; therefore, if your site hasn’t been optimized in several years, your site may not be as visible in web searches as you may like. In addition, other key metrics such as high bounce rates and low conversion rates (meaning visitors aren’t hanging around on your website and interacting with it) may also indicate your site may not be performing as it should.
2. Your Site Isn’t Mobile-Friendly
According to current trends, roughly 60-64% of website traffic is experienced on a mobile device, such as a cell phone or tablet; therefore, optimizing your site so that it looks and functions well on mobile devices as well as desktop computers is crucial. Since most web design and development is done on desktop computers, it’s easy to overlook the mobile user’s experience on your site. If your site isn’t mobile-responsive (meaning the site makes appropriate adjustments when it senses it’s being viewed on a mobile device), you may be missing out on significant leads and visitors interacting with your site simply because they weren’t able to accomplish their goals when visiting it.
3. Your Site Is Slow and Sometimes Unstable
Another signal your site needs some updating is it is slow and sometimes experiences crashes or downtime. We all know how frustrating using a slow website can be. Google research also indicates that the probability of someone leaving your site when the page load time goes from 1 to 3 seconds is 32%. There are many reasons a site may load slowly – poor backend design, sub-par hosting plans, and even outdated plugins. All these things can also contribute to your site crashing, causing downtime where no potential visitors can view your site. While this is obviously bad for business, it also negatively affects your SEO, causing your site to get buried further down in search engine results.
4. Your Site Isn’t ADA Compliant
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires all websites to comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Just within the past few years, there’s been a significant uptick in lawsuits filed against companies whose websites don’t meet these guidelines, resulting in fines of up to $150,000. Odds are if your site wasn’t built within the past few years, it wasn’t designed to comply with WCAG. Not only does this put your organization at legal risk, it also can negatively affect your business since visitors with disabilities can’t effectively navigate your site. Further, accessibility compliance can also improve your site’s SEO, as well as qualify you for Federal tax credits.
5. Your Site Lacks Functionality
Websites nowadays are more than just a few photos and some text – they are far more capable of allowing visitors to interact with your business. Adding interactive such features as video or podcast players, “Donate Now” buttons, or before and after sliders can greatly increase visitors’ engagement with and time spent on your site, leading to greater satisfaction. At the same time, however, your site needs to remain easy for individuals to use and navigate your site. If your site has become so large and busy that visitors aren’t able to find what they’re looking for and complete simple tasks, they may become frustrated and leave your site, leading to lost business. If this is the case, a redesign of your site that reconfigures how your menus and pages are structured could greatly benefit your site.
6. Your Site’s Hosting Is No Longer Best For Your Site
Has your business grown significantly in the past years and, as a result, your site has grown, too? There’s a possibility your site may benefit from a new host, which is where the files for your site are actually stored and accessed by users. There are several types of website hosting, each with its own costs and benefits. Good hosting has numerous benefits for your business and your site, such as faster load times, better reliability (meaning less down time), tougher security standards, better backend support, and the ability to handle more traffic.
7. Your Site Doesn’t Follow Recent Technology and Design Trends
Just like clothing fashion, web design experiences trends and “fads” as well. New page builders and themes get released every day, which can contain new designs built in to make your site look sleek and cutting-edge. Redesigning your site could make it more inviting and interesting for visitors and really give it that “wow factor.” In addition, if your site was built using an old theme or uses plugins that are no longer supported, you are greatly increasing your security risk. Patches and updates are also released frequently to address new safety concerns, keeping your site and data safe. Not continually upgrading to the latest technology can put your site at much greater risk for hacking and cyber attacks.
8. Your Company is Rebranding or Making Significant Changes
Another reason to consider rebuilding your site is if your company is rebranding or making big changes to its marketing approaches. If your marketing department is making updates to make your approach more contemporary and up to date, you want to make sure your digital presence matches those efforts. This could include updating your logo, publishing more recent photos, or editing mission and value statements. You may also be shifting who your target market is, which would also have implications for how your site is set up. You want to ensure that the vision and purpose of your website matches the goals of your business. Even small things like not updating your site when a location closes or a staff member listed on your site leaves the company can have a significant impact on user experience.
The Bottom Line
The process of redesigning your website can range anywhere from replacing a few photos and text to conducting a complete rebuild. No matter what that may look like for your site, making the investment to redesign or rebuild your site so that it remains functional, is appealing to visitors, and aligns with the goals of your organization can have significant positive effects for your business down the road. If you’re still unsure about your website and how well it’s supporting the mission of your business, please feel free to contact us and we’ll be happy to use our expertise to help you evaluate how well your site is working for you.
