Complacency – you never want to fall into that trap as a website owner. Thinking your site has all it needs now and for the future is a critical mistake and one that could harm your business or online presence going forward. After all, trends change, and your visitors will expect your site to change and meet their needs as website technology and designs evolve. Running a business and maintaining a site will take its toll on even the best multitasker, but it pays to keep up with the latest trends in web design.
You want to cater to your audience and give them the best experience possible. In addition, you need to stay one step ahead of your competition if climbing to or remaining at the top of the search rankings is your goal. Knowing when it's time to refresh your website will pay off in the end and convert more visitors into returning customers.
10 Signs Your Website Needs a Redesign
1. Your site looks bad on mobile devices.
Responsive design is the term given for sites that look and respond the same on multiple devices. Whether people visit your site on their smartphones, tablets, laptops or desktop computers, your site should offer a cohesive experience for users. Face it: The world has moved to mobile, and more than 50 percent of people worldwide use their phones to browse the internet.
People shouldn't have to pinch and zoom on their phones to browse your website. By converting to a responsive design, you'll create a unified look and target your visitors no matter what device they use.
2. Your brand has changed.
Your brand is more than your logo; it's also your content, products, acquisitions and other things that have made your business evolve. When your brand changes, so too should your website. It doesn't matter whether you run a cooking blog or an e-commerce store, you should always keep your visitors informed of your changes. Keeping your site current with your evolving brand will position it better in the online marketplace.
3. Your site looks outdated.
Yesterday's glossy design is today's flat colours. Tomorrow, next month or two years from now, web designers will come up with new and interesting ways to enhance websites. Take a look at your competitors' sites, and see what they're doing and how they're handling their designs. Compare their sites to yours, and ask these three questions:
- Does my site match the design level of my competitors?
- Does their design target their specific audience?
- How can I take what they're doing and go one step further?
Websites compete with one another for clicks, views and purchases, so you'll want your design to pull in your visitors and keep them on your site. If you're still holding on to designs of the past, you could be missing out on higher conversion rates in the future.
4. Visitors abandon your site quickly.
If you're not using web analytics, you should do so right away. Keeping track of every bounce and abandonment will give you a clear picture of how visitors respond to your site. For example, visitors could land on your website rather quickly but leave without clicking and navigating around. When you have high bounces but low conversions, it could mean a few things:
- Visitors clicked on your site by mistake.
- Visitors couldn't figure out how to navigate your site.
- Visitors expected to see more on the landing page.
- Visitors had to wait too long for the content to load.
When Mike or Sue visit your site but leave without converting, chances are they didn't find what they were looking for. Having a good user design upfront will help show what you offer and how visitors can get it.
5. You can't update your site as easily as before.
Putting off updates to your website is like avoiding your dirty dishes. After awhile, things pile up so much that it makes your job more difficult than it should be. It's easy to get behind on updating your design especially if you're the only one running your business. However, it will get to the point when updating the content or reworking the design requires big changes rather than small tweaks. If you can't update your site as easily as you once could, it's definitely time to have a professional designer help ease the load.
6. Your content doesn't speak volumes.
Your web content should target your specific audience. It shouldn't include outdated information or read like a sales ad. You want content that speaks to your visitors as if you were talking directly to them. Having short, concise paragraphs with a solution-centric message will have a greater effect than writing long paragraphs trying to sell a product.
7. Search engines can't find your site.
When the major search engines can't find your site, no one else can either. Search engine optimisation, or SEO, is vital to websites and a useful strategy for getting seen online. It's also a major factor in ranking your site on the first few pages and higher on the list.
Having good coding sets the base for better SEO performance. You also need optimised content with specific keywords to increase your rankings, as well as having web pages with meta descriptions, alt text on images, captivating titles and proper use of header tags. A good UX designer, or one who specialises in the user experience, can help integrate these elements and help search engines and visitors find your site more easily.
8. Your site lacks social media integration.
Interacting with your clients and customers on Twitter, Facebook and other social platforms is a great way to grow your online business. However, if you're missing social media buttons on your website, you're not using those platforms to their fullest potential. With links to your social media pages, you give your visitors a way to share your blog posts or newest products with others online.
Your visitors help to grow your brand and spread your content to other sections of the internet. Placing social media links on your site will not only expand your business but also create a more engaging experience for your users.
9. Your site has poor loading times.
The longer people have to wait for your site to load, the more likely they'll leave and go somewhere else. You want to provide a snappy experience for everyone who visits your site, including those who use a mobile device with a spotty connection or slow performance speeds. Having an optimised website that loads quickly from page to page will make sure people hang around and see what you have to offer.
10. You're not aware of the latest technologies.
Gone are the days when websites were only used as digital brochures or contact forms. Using the latest technologies will improve your online presence and interaction with others. If you sell goods on your site, you don't have to go through a third-party. You can accept credit cards and other payment forms directly. Other technologies such as live streaming, post notifiers and responders and analytic plug-ins exist today to help improve your site and make things easier for you.
Professional Web Design Changes Everything
With an upgraded web design, you can propel your business forward in the online marketplace. You can reach more people, offer them a great user experience, rank higher in the search engines and connect in ways you never could before. Quantum can help you realise your goals and help you design a better website that caters to your audience. We'll also help maintain your site, giving you time to focus on running other parts of your business and engaging with your customers. Having a professionally crafted design not only changes how people see your website; it also changes how they view your brand.
