Why your business needs a website redesign

Does your business needs a website redesign?

How urgent is a website redesign for your business? We have detailed below some of the key signs that should tell you whether your website is ready to be redesigned or not:

Some of your website features or content don’t display properly

Photographs or graphics that appear on your website can no longer be displayed correctly, interactive features on your website might have glitches, or the content simply doesn’t display as it should!

Some of the above can be fixed with a simple update, in other cases they are part of a much larger problem. It could be that your website is running on software that is no longer supported. If your site’s current design is several years old, it might no longer be compatible with newer devices or browsers. If you’re unsure what’s causing the problem, contact us to help work it out and develop your business an upgraded design.

Your business website is difficult to use on mobile devices

It is important to check how your website appears when loaded on different types of mobile devices such as iphone, android/smartphones and tablets.

Check to see if:

• Is the site’s text easy to read?
• Do the images appear correctly?
• Is the site easy to navigate on the smaller screen?

You can also use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to check your site.

Having a mobile-friendly site is crucial to the success of your website, mobile devices have overtaken desktops recently as the device that people use most for web browsing. You can use Google Analytics to check What percentage of your visitors come from mobile devices? If it’s a significant percentage, it’s worth redesigning with mobile users in mind.

Google also have a “mobile-first” indexing system, the way your mobile website is made can greatly affect how your site appears on search results. All of our latest websites have been designed to perform beautifully across all devices. Contact IC Creative Design to kick start the website redesign process for your business.

Your business does not convince visitors to make contact

Do you receive contact from potential customers via your website? Is it contributing towards your business goals? If the answer to both questions is an emphatic ‘NO’ then it’s time to consider a redesign that contributes to your business success. Your website should feature clear ‘calls to action‘ that motivate the website user to take action from your website.

Focus on specific key metrics to measure your websites success, your website redesign will have a more focused objective and you can track more effectively what works and what doesn’t.

Visitors leave your website quickly

Depending on the type of website model that your business operates, it may work best when users visit multiple pages or stay on the site for a long time. If you run a blog, you usually want people to read and share your articles. If you have an eCommerce site, you want people to browse through your products, pick several of them to buy, and follow through on the purchase. If this is the case for your site, users should be sticking around for more than a few seconds.

There are a few metrics you can use to figure out if users leave your site too quickly:

Bounce Rate.
Simply put, a bounce is when a user visits a page on your site and doesn’t visit other pages. Your bounce rate is the number of bounces divided by the number of sessions on your site. Google Analytics provides more context on bounce rates here. Keep in mind that if users leave your site quickly but you still meet your business goals, then you don’t have anything to worry about.

Pages/Session.
This is the average number of pages that users view per session. The higher this number, the more pages your average user views when looking at your site.

Behavior Flow.
This can give you a better idea about how thoroughly users go through your website, especially if the above metrics aren’t as relevant to your needs. For more information on behavior flow, check out this overview from Google Analytics.

We use Google analytics to track clients results and respond to users behaviour.

People can’t find what they are looking for quickly

Your website needs to make it easy for users to find what they are looking for. You don’t get long, within 3 clicks most visitors will leave your website.

If they’re looking for specific information, you need to make sure that they can find what they’re looking for in a couple of minutes. If they are trying to buy, subscribe, or inquire, they should be able to do it without outside help. Otherwise, you need an overhaul to make your navigation easier.

Do you get many calls or emails about information that is already on the website? If so, this is a sign that people are having difficulty finding what they need on your site.

Your competition have redesigned their sites

Unless you’re a designer, it’s hard to tell if your site looks outdated. One way to find out is to check the websites of your competitors and other similar companies in your industry. Consider:

Have they recently changed their designs?
Do their designs look wildly different from yours? Note the text size, colors, and graphic styles they use. If they recently redesigned and these elements are too different from yours, consider getting the feedback of a professional designer.

Outdated design isn’t just about aesthetics. They provide subtle signals to your audience. A fresh design lets them know that you’ve kept up with the times and that your business is thriving.

In general, if your website’s current look was created five years ago, design trends have probably changed enough for your site to look outdated.

Your Brand, Products, or Services Have Changed

It’s also possible that your site is no longer representative of your company. Here are some signs that this might be the case:

• The company photos on your site no longer feature current staff or facilities (or are stock photos).
• Your target market has shifted to another market since your current design was made.
• Your top selling products or services have changed.
• When compared with your site, your most recent printed branding materials have new information or a different look.

If any of the above is true, you should work with a designer who has some experience with rebranding.

How often should you redesign your website?

There’s no hard rule on when redesigns should happen. It depends on your industry, the number of pages on your site, the features on your site, and what your site’s purpose is.

For basic websites that only have a handful of pages and no eCommerce features, you can do a routine checkup every six months. But if your site is more advanced—has eCommerce features, or a frequently updated blog posts, or gets tens of thousands of visitors per month—then you should consider doing a monthly checkup.

Once it’s time for a regular review of your site design, the checklist above list will help you keep track of whether a major change is necessary or if just a few modifications is all you need.

Are you ready to connect?
Contact us and begin to engage potential customers today. Call 07 5447 1757